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KOREA AND 
HER NEIGHBOURS 



ILLUSTRATED 



• <• - # 






> . 



J: ■ 






KOREA AND 
HER NEIGHBOURS 

A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL, WITH 

AN ACCOUNT OF THE VICISSITUDES 

AND POSITION OF THE COUNTRY 



• •• 



By Mrs gISHOP 

(ISABELLA BIRD) 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



VOLUME II. 



LONDON 

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 

190S 



CONTENTS 



PAET 11 



CHAPTER XIX 



PAoa 
The Korean Frontier ...... I 



CHAPTER XX 

A New Empire ....... 21 

CHAPTER XXI 

The King's Oath— the King and Queen , • .29 

CHAPTER XXII 
A Transition Stage — "Great Fifteenth Day" . . 60 

CHAPTER XXIII 
A Dark Chapter of Korean History . . . .60 

CHAPTER XXIV 
Ms. Yi Hak In— Korean Bubial Customs . . .78 



300454 



iv CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XXV 

PAGE 

Fbom Pa Ju to Sonq-do ... ... 90 



CHAPTER XXVI 

From Song-do to PhyOnq-yano . . . .100 

CHAPTER XXVII 

NOBTHWABD HO ! . . . . . • . 124 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

From Tok ChhSn to PhyOng-yano . . . .137 

CHAPTER XXIX 
The Position of Korean Women . . . .147 

CHAPTER XXX 

Christian Missions . . . . . .165 

CHAPTER XXXI 

The ** Top-Knot "—the Korean Heoira . . .178 

CHAPTER XXXII 
The Reorganised Korean Government , . . 188 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XXXIII 



Education— Trade— Finance 



PAGE 

. 207 



CHAPTER XXXIV 



Korean Djbmonism or Shamanism 



. 222 



CHAPTER XXXV 



Notes on Djbmonism in Korea — Concluded 



234 



CHAPTER XXXVI 



Seoul in 1897 



. 255 



CHAPTER XXXVII 



Last Words on Korea 



Appendix A. Mission Statistics for Korea, 1896 . 

Appendix B. Direct Foreign Trade of Korea, 1884-96 

Appendix C. Return of principal Articles of Export 
years 1896-95 ..... 

Appendix D ..... 



Appendix E. Treaty between Japan and Russia, with Reply of 
H.E. the Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs 



Index 



277 



. 298 

. 300 

for the 

. 302 

. 305 



307 



. 311 



CHAPTEE XIX 



THE KOREAN FRONTIER 



The chief object of my visit to Eussian Manchuria was to 
settle for myself by personal investigation the vexed 
question of the condition of those Koreans who have found 
shelter under the Eussian flag, a number estimated in 
Seoul at 20,000. It was there persistently said that 
Eussia was banishing them in large numbers, and that 
several thousands of them had already recrossed the 
Tumen, and were in such poverty that the King of Korea 
had sent agents to the north who were to settle them on 
lands in Ham-gyong Do. 

In Wladivostok the servant-interpreter diflSculty was 
absolutely insurmountable. No eflforts on the part of my 
friends could obtain what did not exist, and I was on 
the verge of giving up what proved a very interesting 
journey, when the Director of the Siberian Telegraph lines 
very kindly liberated the senior official in his department, 
who had not had a holiday for many years, to go with me. 
Mr. Heidemann, a German from the Baltic provinces, spoke 
German, Eussian, and English with nearly equal ease, and 
as a Eussian official was able to make things smoother than 

VOL.n B 



2 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap. 

they might otherwise have been in a very rough part of 
Primorsk. He was tall, good-looking, and verging on 
middle age, very gentlemanly, never failed in any courtesy, 
understood how to manage moujiks, and was a capable and 
willing interpreter; but he was official, reticent, and un- 
interested, and gave me the impression of being frozen 
into his uniform ! 

Fortified as to my project by the cordial approval of the 
Governor, the courtesy of the Telegraph Department, and 
the singular splendour of the weather, I left Wladivostok 
by a red sunrise in a small steamer, which accomplished 
the 60 miles to Possiet Bay in seven hours, landing us in 
a deep inlet of clear water and white sand, soon to be closed 
by ice, at the foot of low and absolutely barren hills fringing 
ofif into sandy knolls, where Koreans with their ox-carts 
awaited the steamer. A well-spread tea-table at the house 
of the Eussian postmaster was very welcome. Such a 
strong-looking family I had seldom seen, but afterwards I 
found that size and strength are characteristic of the 
Bussian settlers in Primorsk. 

Possiet Bay is a large military station of fine barracks 
and storehouses. It scarcely seemed to possess a civil 
population, but there are Korean settlements at no great 
distance,from which much of the beef-supply of Wladivostok 
is derived. We met a number of strong, thriving-looking 
Koreans driving 60 fine fat cattle down to the steamer. 

The post waggon, in which we were cramped up among 
and under the mail-bags, took us at a two hours' gallop 
along frozen inlets of the sea and across frozen rivers, over 
grassy, hilly country, scarcely enlivened by Korean farms 
in the valleys, to Nowo Kiewsk, which we reached after 



XIX A MILITARY SETTLEMENT 3 

iiightfall,and were hospitably received by the representative 
of Messrs. Kuntz and Albers, whose large brick and stone 
establishment is the prominent object in the settlement. 

Nowo Kiewsk is a great military post, to which 1000 
civilians, chiefly Koreans and Chinese, have been attracted 
by the prospect of gain. Koreans indeed form the bulk of 
this population, and do all the hauling of goods and fuel 
with their ox-teams. The centre of the town is a great 
dusty slope intersected by dusty and glaring roads, which 
resound at intervals from early morning tiU sunset with 
the steady tramp of brown-ulstered battalions. Between 
Possiet Bay and Nowo Kiewsk there were 10,000 infantry 
and artillery, and at the latter post 8 pieces of field artillery 
and 24 two-wheeled ammunition waggons. Barracks for 
10,000 more men were in course of rapid construction. 
Long wooden sheds shelter the artillery ponies, and 
villages of low mud houses of two rooms each, with 
windows consisting of a single small pane of glass, 
the families of soldiers. There are great drill and parade 
grounds and an imposing Greek church of the usual 
pattern. 

With its great open spaces and wide streets, Nowo 
Kiewsk looks laid out for futurity, straggling along a tree- 
less and bushless hill-slope for 2 miles. In addition to 
Kuntz and Albers, with their polyglot staff of clerks, among 
whom a young Korean in European dress was conspicuous 
for his gentlemanliness and alacrity, there is another Ger- 
man house, and there are forty small shops, chiefly kept by 
Chinese, at all of which schnaps and vodka are sold. 

I was detained there for three days while arrangements 
for my southern journey were being made, and during that 



4 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap. 

time the Chief of Police, who spoke French, took me to 
several Korean villages. So far as I saw and heard, the whole 
agricultural population of the neighbourhood is Korean, 
and is in a very prosperous condition. There, and down to 
the Korean frontier, most of these settlef& are doing well, 
and some of them are growing rich as contractors for the 
supply of meat and grain to the Eussian forces. At this 
they have beaten their Chinese neighbours, and they 
actually go into Chinese Manchuria, buy up lean cattle, 
and fatten them for beef. To those who have only seen 
the Koreans in Korea, such a statement will be hardly 
credible. Yet it does not stand alone, for I have it on the 
best authority that the Korean settlers near Khabaroffka 
have competed so successfully with the Chinese in market 
gardening that the supplying that city with vegetables is 
now entirely in their hands ! 

The Eussian tarantass is one of the most uncouth of 
civilised vehicles — all that can be said of it is that it suits 
the roads, which in that region are execrable. On two sets 
of stout wheels and axles, attached to each other by long 
solid timbers, a long shallow box is secured, with one, two, 
or even three boards, cushioned or not, " roped " across it 
for seats. It may be drawn by either two or three horses 
abreast, one in the shafts and one or two outside, each with 
the most slender attachment to the vehicle, and his head 
held down and inwards by a tight strap. This outer animal 
is trained to a showy gallop, which never sleickens even 
though the shaft horse may keep up a decorous trot. The 
tarantass has no springs, and, going at a gallop, bumps and 
boimces over all obstacles, holes, hillocks, ruts and streams 
being alike to it. 



KOREAN SETTLERS 6 

The iarantass of the Chief of Police made nothing of 
I* the obstacles on the road to YauLchihe, where we were to 
I hear of a Korean interpreter. The level country, narrow- 
I ing into a valley bordered by fine mountains, is of deep, rich 
t black soil, and grows almost all cereals and roots. All the 
■ CTops were gathered in and the land was neatly ploughed. 
I Korean hamlets with houses of a very superior class to 



I'those in Korea were sprinkled over the country, At one 
I of the lai-gest villages, where 140 families were settled on 
I 750 acres of rich land, we called at several of the peasant 
I farmers' houaea, and were made very welcome, even the 
f women coming out to welcome the oIEcial with an air of 
■ decided pleasure. The farmers had changed the timid, 
l»U3picious, or cringing manner which is chai'acteristic of 
Ithem to a gi'eat extent at home, for an air of frankness 
l.aud manly independence which was most pleasing, 

The Cliief of Police wag a welcome visitor. The Koreans 



6 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap. 

had nothing to fear, unless his quick scent discerned 
an insanitary odour, or his eye an unwarrantable garbage 
heap I The farm-yards were clean and well swept, and the 
domestic animals were lodged in neat sheds. The houses, 
of strictly Korean architecture, were large, with five or 
six rooms, carefully thatched, and very neat within, 
abounding in such comforts 'and plenishings as would 
only be dreamed of by mandarins at home. It is insisted 
on, however, that, instead of the flues which heat the 
floors vomiting forth their smoke through many blackened 
apertures in the walls, they shall unite in sending it 
heavenwards through a hollow tree -trunk placed at a 
short distance from the house. This, and cleanly sur- 
roundings in the interests of sanitation, are the only 
restrictions on their Korean habits. The clothing and 
dwellings are the same as in Korea, and the "top-knot" 
flourishes. 

A little farther on there is the large village of 
Yantchihe, with a neat schoolhouse, in which Bussian 
and Korean pupils sit side by side at their lessons, a 
Greek church, singularly rich in internal decorations, and 
a priest's house adjoining. This is a very prosperous 
village. In the neat police station a Korean sergeant 
wrote down my requirements and sent off a smart Korean 
policeman in search of an interpreter. Four hundred 
Koreans in this neighbourhood have conformed to the 
Greek Church and have received baptism. On asking the 
priest, who was nxore picturesque than cultivated, and 
whose large young family seemed oppressively large for 
the house, what sort of Christians they made, he re- 
plied suggestively that they had " a great deal to learn," 



XIX RUSSIAN TOLERATION 7 

and that there would be "more hope for the next 
generation," 

I am not clear in my own mind as to the cause of 
the success which has attended "missionary effort" at 
Yantchihe and elsewhere. The statements I received on 
the subject diflfered widely, and in most cases were made 
hesitatingly, as if my informants were not sure of their 
ground. My impression is that while Eussia is tolerant 
of devil-worship, or any other worship which is not sub- 
versive of the externals of morality, "conformity" is 
required to obtain for the Korean alien those blessings 
which belong to naturalisation as a Bussian subject. 

Preparations being completed for travelling to the 
Korean frontier, and into Korea as far as Kyong-heung, a 
town which a Trade Convention in 1888 opened to the 
residence of Eussian subjects in the hope of creating a 
market there after the style of Kiachta, I had an inter- 
view with Mr. Matunin, the Frontier Commissioner, who 
gave me a very unpleasant account of insecurity on the 
frontier owing to the lawlessness of the Chinese troops, 
and an introduction to the Governor of Kyong-heung. 

A large tarantass with three ponies and a driver, a 
Korean on another pony, and the Korean headman of a 
neighbouring village, who spoke Eussian well, and our 
saddles, were our modest outfit. The details of the two 
days' journey to the Tumen are too monotonous for inflic- 
tion on the reader. The road was infamous, and at times 
disappeared altogether on a hill -side or in a swamp, 
and swamps are frequent for the first 40 versts. The 
tarantass, always attempting a gallop, bounced, bumped, 
and thumped, till breathing became a series of gasps. 



8 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap. 

Occasionally we stuck fast in swampy streams where the 
ice was broken, being extricated by a tremendous, united, 
and apparently trained, jump on the part of the ponies, 
which compelled a strong grip of the vehicle with hands 
and feet, and would have dislocated any other. Mr. 
Heidemann smoked cigarettes unceasingly, and made no 
remarks. 

We crossed the head of Possiet Bay and other inlets at 
a gallop on thin ice, forded several streams in the afore- 
said fashion, and passed through severeal Korean coast 
villages given up to the making of salt by a rude process, 
the finished product being carted away to Hun-chun in 
China in baskets of finely- woven reeds. These Chinese 
carts are drawn by seven mules each, constantly driven at 
a gallop. 

After 30 versts the country became very hilly, with 
rugged mountains in the distance, all without a tree or 
bush, and covered with coarse and fine grasses mixed up 
with myriads of withered flower stalks of Compositce and 
Unibdliferce, and here and there a lonely, belated purple 
aster shivered in the strong keen wind, which made an 
atmosphere at zero somewhat hard to face. The valleys 
are flat and broad, and their rich black soil, the product 
of ages of decaying vegetation, is absolutely stoneless. 
Almost all crops can be raised upon it. Besides being a 
rich agricultural country, the region is well suited for 
cattle-breeding. There were large herds on the hills, and 
hay-stacks thickly scattered over the landscape indicated 
abundance of winter keep. The potato, which flourishes 
and is free from the disease, is largely cultivated, and is 
now with the Koreans an article of ordinary diet. 



XIX KOREAN PROSPERITY 9 

The whole of this fine country is settled by Koreans, 
for the few hamlets of wretched, tumble-down Chinese 
houses are of no account. Whether as squatters or pur- 
chasers, they are making the best of the land. The 
number of their domestic animals enables them to fertilise 
it abundantly ; they plough deep, and rotate their crops, 
and get a splendid yield from their lands. We halted at 
Saretchje, a village of 120 families, admirably housed, and 
with all material comforts abounding about them. Out of 
its 600 inhabitants, 450 have " conformed." The Koreans, 
having no religion, are apparently not unwilling to secure 
the possible advantages of conversion, and though none of 
the Greek priests who conversed with me were enthusi- 
astic about their " consistency," it is at least more satis- 
factory to see an " Hcce Homo " on the wall than the family 
daemon. 

At distances of 3 and 4 miles there are Korean 
villages, of which prosperity in greater or less degree is a 
characteristic. The houses are large and well built, and 
the farm-yards are well stocked with domestic animals, the 
people and children are well clothed, and the village lands 
carefully cultivated. 

A long ascent, during which the road, which for some time 
had been intermittent, gradually disappeared, leads to the 
summit of a high hill, from which the mountainous frontiers 
of Eussia, China, and Korea are seen to converge. After 
losing our way and our time, and crossing several ranges 
of hills without a road, just as the winter sun was setting 
in a flood of red gold, glorifying the mountains on the 
Chinese frontier, a turn round a blufif revealed what is 
geographically and politically a striking view. 



10 THE KOBEAN FRONTIER chap. 

The whole of the Kusbo- Korean frontier, 11 miles in 
length, and a hroad river full of sandbanks, passing 
through a desert of sandMUs to the steely blue ocean, lay 
crimaon in the sunset, On a steep blnff above the river a 
tall granite slab marks the spot where the Russian and 
Cliinese frontiers meet. Across the Tumen, the barren 




mountains of Korea loomed purple through a baze of gold. 
Three empires are seen at a glance. A small and poor 
Korean village is situated in a valley below. Close to the 
Boundary Stone, on the high steep bluff above the Tumen, 
there ia a large mud hut from which most of the white- 
wash had scaled olf, with thatch lield on by straw ropes 
weighted with atones. 

It was a very lonely scene. A Korean told ua that it 



XIX THE RUSSIAN "ARMY" 11 

was absolutely impossible for us to sleep at the village. 
A Cossack came out of the hut, took a long look at us, and 
returned. Then a forlorn-looking corporal appeared, who 
also took a long look, and having hospitable instincts, came 
up and told us that the village was impossible except for 
the drivers and horses, but that he could put us up roughly 
in the hut, which consisted of one fair-sized room, another 
very small one, and a lean-to. 

The latest English papers had stated that '' Bussia has 
lately massed 5000 men on her Korean frontier, and 4000 
at Hun-chun." It is not desirable to make any inquiries 
about the positions and numbers of Bussian troops, and I 
had prudently abstained from asking questions, and had 
looked forward with interest to seeing a great display of 
military force. This hut is the military post of Krasnoye 
Celo, and the " army '* of Bussia " massed on her Korean 
frontier " consisted of 15 men and a corporal, the officer 
being required to endure the isolation of the position for 
six months, and the privates for one. The roars of laughter 
which greeted the English statement were not compli- 
mentary to newspaper accuracy. 

The corporal's small room was of no particular shape, 
and was furnished with only a deal chair and small table, 
and a big earthen jar of water, but it was well warmed, 
and had an iron camp-bed in a recess with a wire- wove 
mattress, much broken and " sagging," the sharp points of 
the broken wires sticking up in several places through the 
one rug with which I attempted to mollify their asperities. 
This recess, which just contained the bed, was curtained 
off for me, and the corporal, Mr. Heidemann, and three 
Korean headmen lay closely packed on the floor. The 



12 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap. 

corporal, glad to have people to talk with, talked more 
than half the night, and began again before daybreak. We 
supped on barrack fare — black bread, barley brose, and tea, 
with the addition of a little kwass, a very slightly fer- 
mented drink, made from black bread, raisins, sugar, and 
a little vodka, schnaps and vodka containing 40 per cent of 
alcohol. At 9 p.m. I was surprised and delighted with the 
noble strains of a Greek Litany, chanted in well-balanced 
parts from the barrack-room, the evening worship of the 
Cossacks. 

My last sunset view of the Tumen was of a sheet of 
ice. The headmen of the Korean villages of Sajomi and 
Krasnoe, who were in council till near midnight, thought 
it was impossible to get across, and they said that the 
ferry-boat w^as drawn ashore and was frozen in for the 
winter, and that two Eussian Commissioners and a General, 
after waiting for three days, had left the day before, having 
failed. However, yielding to my urgency, they set all the 
able-bodied men of Sajomi to work at 2 A.M. to dig the 
boat out, and by 7 she had moved some yards towards 
the river, which, however, was still a sheet of ice. Later, 
the corporal sent 14 of his men to help the Koreans, 
laughingly saying that I had the " whole Eussian frontier 
army to get me across." At 9 word came that the boat 
was nearly afloat, and we started, on horseback, with two 
baggage ponies, and rode a mile over the hills and through 
the prosperous Korean village of Sajorni, down to a dazzling 
expanse of sand through which the Tumen flows to the sea, 
there 10 miles ofl*. 

The river ice was breaking up into large masses under 
the morning sun, and between Eussia and Korea there 



XIX AN ATTEMPT WHICH FAILED - 13 

was much open water about 600 feet broad. The experts 
said if we could get over at all it would be between noon 
and 2, after which the ice would pack and freeze together 
again. Koreans and Cossacks worked with a will, breaking 
the ice, digging under the boat, and moving her with 
levers, but it was noon before the unwieldy craft, used for 
the ferriage of oxen, moved into the water, accompanied by 
a hearty cheer. She leaked badly, two men were required 
to bale her, and the stem platform, by which animals 
enter her, was carried away. The baggage was carried in 
by men wading much over their knees, and then came the 
turn of the ponies, but not the whole Eussian army by 
force or persuasion could get those wretched animals em- 
barked. 

After a whole hour's work and any amount of kicking, 
plunging, and injuries, from getting one or two legs over 
1)he bulwarks, and struggling back, and rolling backwards 
into the river, two were apparently safe in the ferry-boat, 
when suddenly they knocked over the man who held them 
and jumped into the water, one blind animal being rescued 
with difficulty, and the other cutting his legs considerably. 
The ice was then fast forming, but the soldiers made one 
more attempt, which failed, owing to what Americans 
would not inaptly call the " cussedness '* of the Siberian 
ponies. For the first time on any journey I had to confess 
myself baffled, for it was impossible to swim the contuma- 
cious animals across, owing to the heavy ice-floes and the 
low temperature of the water. I had sat on my pony 
watching these proceedings for nearly four hours, watch- 
ing too the grand Korean mountains as they swept down 
to the icy river in every shade of cobalt blue, varied by 



14 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap. 

indigo shadows of the white cloud masses which sailed 
slowly across the heavenly sky. At that point from which 
I most reluctantly turned back, the Tumen has a large 
volume of water, but above and below sandbanks render 
the navigation so difficult that it is only in the rainy 
season that flat-bottomed boats make the attempt, and not 
always with success, to reach the Korean town of K'wan, 
80 versts, or something over 50 miles, above Krasnoye 
Celo. The Chinese, in the insane notion that Japan was 
about to land a large force on the south bank of the 
Tumen, had seized all the boats above the Bussian post. 

I photographed the " Eussian army " and the barracks, 
as well as the Boundary Stone, and the corporal slouching 
against the scaly forlorn quarters on the desolate height 
in an attitude of extreme dejection, as we drove away 
leaving him to his usual dulness. 

The days of the return journey gave me a good oppor- 
tunity of learning something of the condition of the 
Koreans under another Government than their own. 
So long ago as 1863, 13 families from Ham-gyong Do 
crossed the frontier and settled on the river Tyzen Ho, a 
little to the north of Possiet Bay. By 1866 there were 
100 families there, very poor, among which the Eussian 
Government distributed cattle and seed for cultivation. 

During 1869, a year of very great scarcity in Northern 
Korea, 4500 Koreans migrated, hunger-driven, into Prim- 
orsk, some 3800 of them being absolutely destitute. These 
had to be supported, no easy thing, as the territory, only 
ceded to Eussia a few years before, was but a thinly- 
peopled wilderness, and was also suffering from a bad 
harvest. 



^ • 



XIX . KOREAN IMMIGRANTS 15 

In 1897 there were in Primorsk 32 village districts, 
i.e. villages with outlying hamlets, divided into 5 adminis- 
trative districts. Besides these, one village belongs to the 
city of Khabaroflfka on the Amur, and there are large 
Korean settlements adjacent to Wladivostok and Nikolskye. 
The total number of Korean immigrants is estimated at 
from 16,000 to 18,000. It must be remembered that 
several thousands of these were literally paupers, and that 
they subsisted for nearly a year on the charity of the 
Kussian authorities, and after that were indebted to them 
for seed corn. They settled on the rich lands of the 
Siberian valleys mostly as squatters, but have been 
unmolested for many years. Many have purchased the 
farms they occupy, and in other cases villages have acquired 
community rights to their adjacent lands. It is the 
intention of Government that squatting shall gradually be 
replaced by purchase, the purchasers receiving legal title- 
deeds. 

These alien settlers practically enjoy autonomy. At 
the head of each district is an Elder or Headman, with 
from one to three asi^tants according to its size. The 
police and their ofi&cers are Korean. In each district 
there are two or three judges with their clerks, who try 
minor offences. The headmen, who are responsible for 
order and the collection of taxes, are paid salaries, or 
receive various allowances. All these oflScials are Koreans, 
and are elected by the people themselves from among them- 
selves. The Government taxation is 10 roubles (about £1) 
on each farm per annum. The local taxation, settled by 
the villagers in council for their own purposes, such as 
roads, ditches, bridges, and schools, is limited to 3 roubles 



16 THE KOKEAN FRONTIEK chap. 

per farm per annum. Men who are not landholders pay 
from 1 to 2 roubles per annum. 

Koreans settled in Siberia prior to 1884 can claim 
rights as Eussian subjects, and at this time those who can 
prove that they have been settled on purchased lands for 
ten years can do so, as well as certain others, well reported 
of as being of settled lives and good conduct. Owing to 
the steady influx of settlers from Southern Russia, the 
rich lands near the railroad are required for colonisation, 
and further immigration from Korea has been prohibited. 
The sending of Koreans who are either squatters or of 
unsettled lives to the Amur Province is under discussion. 

The villages between Krasnoye Celo and Nowo Kiewsk 
are fair average specimens of Russo-Korean settlements. 
The roads are fairly good, and the ditches which border 
them well kept. Sanitary rules are strictly enforced, the 
headman being made responsible for village cleanliness. 
Unlike the poor, ragged, filthy villages of the peninsula, 
these are well built in Korean style, of whitewashed mud 
and laths, trimly thatched, the compounds or farm-yards 
are enclosed by whitewashed walls, or high fences of 
neatly- woven reeds, and look as if they were swept every 
morning, and the farm buildings are substantial and well 
kept. Even the pig-sties testify to the Argus eyes of the 
district chiefs of police. 

Most of the dwellings have four, five, and even six 
rooms, with papered walls and ceilings, fretwork doors and 
windows, "glazed" with white translucent paper, finely- 
matted floors, and an amount of plenishings rarely to be 
found even in a mandarin's house in Korea. Cabinets, 
bureaus, and rice chests of ornamental wood with handsome 



jox A RADICAL IMPROVEMENT 17 

brass decorations, low tables, stools, cushions, brass samo- 
vars, dressers displaying brass dinner services, brass bowls, 
china, tea-glasses, brass candlesticks, brass kerosene lamps, 
and a host of other things, illustrate the capacity to 
secure comfort. Pictures of the Tsar and Tsaritza, of the 
C!hrist, and of Greek saints, and framed cards of twelve 
Christian prayers, replace the coarse daubs of the family 
daemons in very many houses. Out of doors full granaries, 
ponies, mares with foals, black pigs of an improved breed, 
draught oxen, and fat oxen for the Wladivostok market, 
with ox-carts and agricultural implements, attest solid 
material prosperity. It would be impossible for a traveller 
to meet with more cordial hospitality and more cleanly 
and comfortable accommodation than I did in these 
Korean homes. 

But there is more than this. The air of the men has 
undergone a subtle but real change, and the women, 
though they nominally keep up their habit of seclusion, 
have lost the hang-dog air which distinguishes them at 
home. The suspiciousness and indolent conceit, and the 
servility to his betters, which characterise the home-bred 
Korean, have very generally given place to an independence 
and manliness of manner rather British than Asiatic. 
The alacrity of movement is a change also, and has replaced 
the conceited swing of the yang-han and the heartless 
lounge of the peasant. There are many chances for 
making money, and there is neither mandarin nor yang- 
han to squeeze it out of the people when made, and com- 
forts and a certain appearance of wealth no longer attract 
the rapacious attentions of ofl&cials, but are rather a credit 
to a man than a source of insecurity. All who work can 

VOL. II 



18 THE KOREAN FRONTIER chap 

be comfortable, and many of the farmers are rich and 
engage in trade, making and keeping extensive contracts. 

Those Koreans who are not settled on lands, chiefly in 
the direction of the Chinese frontier, and who subsist bj 
wood cutting and hauling, are less well off, and theii 
hamlets have something of squalor about them. 

In Korea I had learned to think of Koreans as the 
dregs of a race, and to regard their condition as hopeless 
but in Primorsk I saw reason for considerably modifying 
my opinion. It must be borne in mind that these people 
who have raised themselves into a prosperous farming 
class, and who get an excellent character for industry anc 
good conduct alike from Eussian police officials, Bussiai 
settlers, and military officers, were not exceptionallj 
industrious and thrifty men. They were mostly starving 
folk who fled from famine, and their prosperity and genera! 
demeanour give me the hope that their countrymen ii 
Korea, if they ever have an honest administration anc 
protection for their earnings, may slowly develop into men 

In parts of Western Asia I have had occasion to not< 
the success of Eussian administration in conquered oi 
acquired provinces, and with subject races, specially hei 
creation of an orderly, peaceful, and settled agricultural 
population out of the nomadic and predatory tribes o; 
Turkestan. Her success with the Korean immigrants ii 
in its way as remarkable, for the material is inferior. She 
is firm where firmness is necessary, but outside that limit 
allows extreme latitude, avoids harassing aliens by pettj 
prohibitions and irksome rules, encourages those forms o: 
local self-government which suit the genius and habits oj 
different peoples, and trusts to time, education, and contact 



»» J • 



XIX THE CHINESE FKONTIER 19 

with other fonns of civilisation to amend what is repre- 
hensible in customs, religion, and costume. 

A few days later I went to Hun-chun on the frontier 
of Chinese Manchuria, from its position an important 
military post, and was most hospitably received by the 
Commandant and his married aide-de-camp. There, as 
everywhere in Primorsk, and from the civil as well as the 
military authorities, I not only received the utmost kind- 
ness, courtesy, and hospitality, but information was frankly 
given on the various topics I was interested in, and help 
towards the attainment of my objects. Hun-chun is in 
the midst of mountainous country, denuded of wood in 
recent years, and abounding in rich, well-watered valleys 
inhabited only by Koreans. A wilder, drearier, and more 
wind-swept situation it would be hard to find. 

Instead of " 4000 troops " there were only 200 Cossacks, 
housed in a good brick barrack, one-half of which is a 
much-decorated chapel, besides which there are only open 
thatched sheds for their hardy, active Baikal horses, a 
small, well-arranged hospital, a wooden house for the 
Colonel Commandant, and some terra-cotta mud houses 
for the officers and married troopers. The whole Russian 
military force from Hun-chun to the Amur consisted of 
1500 Cossacks, distributed among thirty frontier posts. 
The Commandant told me that their chief duty at that 
time was the " daily " arresting of Chinese brigands who 
crossed the frontier to harry the Korean villages, and who, 
on being marched back and handed over to the mandarins, 
were at once liberated to repeat their forays. 

The Chinese had " massed " several thousand of their 
Manchu troops at Hun-chun, and they had created such a 



i 



1 
■ I 



,! 



20 THE KOREAN FRONTIER ohap.xix 

reign of terror that the peasant farmers had deserted their 
homes over a large area of country. The soldiers, robbed 
by their officers of their nominal pay, and only half fed, 
relied on unlimited pillage for making up the deficiency, 
and neither women nor property were safe from their 
brutality and violence. So desperately undisciplined were 
they, that only a few days before the Secretary and Inter- 
preter of the Eussian frontier Commissioner at Nowo 
Kiewsk, visiting Hun-chun on official business, narrowly 
escaped actual violence at their hands, and the Chinese 
Governor told them that he had no control at all over the 
troops. It was only the rigid discipline of the Cossacks 
which prevented scrimmages which might have produced 
a serious conflagration. 



CHAPTEK XX 



A NEW EMPIRE 



After returning to Wladivostok, accompanied by a young 
Danish gentleman who was kindly lent to me by Messrs. 
Kuntz and Albers, and who spoke English and Bussian, I 
spent a week on the Ussuri Eailway, the eastern section 
of the Trans-Siberian Eailway, going as far as the hamlet 
of Ussuri on the Ussuri Eiver at the great Ussuri Bridge, 
beyond which the line, though completed for 50 versts, 
was not open for trafl&c. Indeed, up to that point from 
Nikolskoye trains were run twice daily rather to " settle 
the line" than for profit, and their average speed was 
only twelve miles an hour. The weather was brilliant, 
varied by a heavy snowstorm. 

The present Tsar is understood to be enthusiastic about 
this railroad. During his visit to Wladivostok in 1891, when 
Tsarevitch, he inaugurated the undertaking by wheeling 
away the first barrowful of earth and placing the first stone 
in position, after which, work was begun simultaneously at 
both ends. 

The eastern terminus of this great railroad undertaking 
is close to the sea and the Government deep-water pier. 



22 A NEW EMPIRE chap. 

at which the fine steamers from Odessa of the Bussian 
" Volunteer Fleet " discharge their cargoes. The station is 
large and very handsome, and both it and the noble adminis- 
trative oflBces are built of gray stone, with the architraves 
of the doors and windows in red brick. Buffets and all 
else were in efficient working order. In the winter of 
1895-96 only third and fourth class cars were running, 
the latter chiefly patronised by Koreans and Chinese. 
Each third class carriage is divided into three compart- 
ments with a corridor, and has a lavatory and steam-heat- 
ing apparatus. The backs of the seats are hooked up to 
form upper berths for sleeping, and as the cars are eight feet 
high they admit of broad luggage shelves above these. 
The engines which ran the traffic were old American 
locomotives, but those which are to be introduced, as well 
as all the rolling stock, are being manufactured in the 
Baltic provinces. So also are the rails, the iron and steel 
bridges, the water tanks, the iron work required for stations^ 
and all else. 

Large railway workshops with rows of substantial 
houses for artisans have been erected at Nikolskoye, 102 
versts from Wladivostok, for the repairs of rolling stock on 
the Ussuri section, and were already in full activity. 

There is nothing about this Ussuri Eailway of the 
newness and provisional aspect of the Western American 
lines, or even of parts of the Canadian Pacific Eailroad. 
The track was already ballasted as far as Ussuri (327 
versts)^ steel bridges spanned the minor streams, and 
substantial stations either of stone or decorated wood, with 
buffets at fixed distances, successfully compare both in 
stability and appearance with those of our English branch 



XX THE THANS-SIBERIAN RAILROAD S3 

lines, TliB tank houses are of liewn stone. HouBes for 
the employiia, standing in neatly-fenoed gardens, are both 
decorative and substantial, being built of cement and logs 
protected by five coats of paint, and contain four rooms 
each. The crossings are well laid and protected. Culverts 





and retammg walls are of 
solid masonry andtel^raph 
wires accompany the road, 
which IS worked strictly on 
the block system. The as- 
pect of solidity and permanence is remarkable. Even the 
temporary bridge over the Ussuri, 1050 feet in length, a 
trestle bridge of heavy timber to resist the impact of the 
ice, is 80 massive as to make the great steel bridge, the 
handsome abutments of which were already built, appear 
as if it would be a work of supererogation. 

T7p to that point there are no serious embankments or 
cnttinga, and the gradients are easy. The cost of con- 



24 A NEW EMPIBE chaf. 

Btruction of the Ussuri section is 50,000 roubles per veni^ 
a rouble at this time being worth about 2s. 2cL This in- 
cludes rolling stock, stations, and all bridges except that 
over the Amur, which was to cost 3,000,000 roubles, but 
may now be dispensed with owing to the diversion of the 
route through Manchuria. Convict labour was abandoned 
in 1894, and the line in Primorsk is being constructed by 
Chinese " navvies," who earn about 80 cents per day, and 
who were bearing the rigour of a Siberian winter in well- 
warmed, semi-subterranean huts, the line being pushed on 
as much as possible during the cold season. For the first 
102 'oerstSf it passes along prettily -wooded shores of 
inlets and banks of streams, and the country is fairly well 
peopled, judging from the number of sleighs and the bustle 
at the six stations en route. The line as far as Nikolskoye 
was opened in early November 1893, and in a year had 
earned 280,000 roubles. The last section had only been 
open for eight weeks when I travelled upon it. 

Nikolskoye, where I spent two pleasant days at the 
hospitable establishment of Messrs. Kuntz and Albers, is 
the only place between Wladivostok and Ussuri of any 
present importance. It is a village of 8000 inhabitants on 
a rich rolling prairie, watered by the Siphun. It has six 
streets of grotesque width, a verst and a half long each. 
There is no poverty. It is a place of rapid growth and 
prosperity, the centre of a great trade in grain, and has a 
largo flour-mill owned by Mr. Lindholm, a Government 
contractor. It has a spacious market-place and bazaar, 
and two churches. It reminds me of parts of Salt Lake 
City, and the houses are of wood, plastered and whitewashed, 
with corrugated iron roofe mainly. A few are thatched. 



• » * - . 



4 J •• • 



XX A RISING SETTLEMENT 26 

All stand in plots of garden ground. Utilitarianism is 
supreme. I drove for 20 miles in the region round the 
settlement, and everywhere saw prosperous farms and 
farming villages on the prairie, Eussian and Korean, and 
found the settlers kindly and hospitable, and surrounded 
by material comfort. Nikolskoye is a great military 
station. There were infantry and artillery to the number 
of 9000, and there, as elsewhere, large new barracks were 
being pushed to completion. An area of 50 acres was 
covered with brick barracks, magazines, stables, driU and 
parade grounds, and officers' quarters, and the miUtary 
club is a reaUy fine building. Newness, progress, and 
confidence in the future are as characteristic of Nikols- 
koye as of any rising town in the Far West of America. 

The farther journey, occupying the greater part of two 
days and a night, except when near the swamps of the 
Hanka Lake, is through a superb farming region. Large 
villages with windmills are met with along the line for the 
first 30 versts, as far as the buffet station of Spasskoje. 
The stoneless soil, a rich loam 6 feet and more in depth, 
produces heavy crops of oats, wheat, barley, maize, rye, 
potatoes, and tobacco. Beyond Spasskoje and east of the 
Hanka Lake up to the Amur a magnificent region waits to 
be peopled. 

Well may Eastern Siberia receive the name of Russia's 
"Pacific Empire," including as it does the Amur and 
Maritime provinces, with their area of 880,000 square 
miles,"^ rich in gold, copper, iron, lead, and coal, and with 
a soil which for a vast extent is of unbounded fer- 

^ The area of France is 204,000, and that of the British Idles 120,000 
square miles. 



26 A NEW EMPIRE chap. 

tility. When China ceded to Kussia in 1860 the region 
which we call Russian Manchuria, she probably did so 
in ignorance of its vast agricultural capacities and mineral 
wealth. 

The noble Amur, with its forest-covered shores, is navi- 
gable for 1000 miles, and already 50 merchant steamers 
ply upon it, and its great tributary the Ussuri can be 
navigated to within 120 miles of Wladivostok. The great 
basin of the Ussuri, it is estimated, could support five 
million people, and from Khabaroffka to the Tumen, it is 
considered by experts that the land could sustain from 
20 to 40 to the square mile, while at present the population 
of the Amur and Ussuri provinces is only -J-ths of a man 
to the square mile ! 

Grass, timber, water, coal, minerals, a soil as rich as the 
prairies of Illinois, and a climate not only favourable to 
agriculture but to human health, all await the settler, 
and the broad, unoccupied, and fertile lands which Russian 
Manchuria ofifers are clamouring for inhabitants. To set 
against these advantages there are the frozen waterways 
and the ice-bound harbour. It is utterly impossible that 
an increasing population will content itself without an 
outlet for its produce. A port on the Pacific open all the 
year is fast becoming as much a commercial as a political 
necessity, and doubtless the opening of the Trans-Siberian 
Railroad four years hence will settle the question (if it hcus 
not been settled before) and doom the policy which has 
shut Russia up in regions of " thick-ribbed ice " to utter 
extinction. 

In the Maritime Province, Russia is steadily and solidly 
laying the foundations of a new empire which she purposes 



XX A HOMOGENEOUS EMPIRE 27 

to make as nearly as possible a homogeneous one. " No 
foreigner need apply " ! The emigrants, who are going 
out at the rate of from 700 to 1000 families a year, are of 
a good class. Emigration is fostered in two ways. By 
the first, the Grovemment grants assisted passages to heads 
of families who are possessed of 600 roubles (about £60 at 
present), which are deposited with a Grovemment oflScial 
at Odessa, and are repaid to the emigrant on landing at 
Wladivostok. The industry and thrift represented by this 
sum indicate a large proportion of the best class of settlers. 
Under the second arrangement, fanulies possessed of 
little capital or none receive free passages. On arriving, 
emigrants of both classes are lodged in excellent emigrant 
barracks, and can buy the necessary agricultural im- 
plements at cost price from a Government dep6t, 
advice as to the purchase being thrown in. Each family 
receives a free allotment of from 200 to 300 acres of 
arable land, and a loan of 600 roubles, to be repaid with- 
out interest in thirty-two years, the young male colonists 
being exempted from military service for the same period. 
Already much of the land along the line as far as the 
Ussuri has been allotted, and houses are rapidly springing 
up, and there is nothing to prevent this fine country from 
being peopled up to the Amur, the rivers Sungacha and 
Ussuri, which form the boundary of Eussia from the Hanka 
Lake to Khabaroffka, giving a natural protection from 
Chinese brigandage. In addition to direct emigration, 
large numbers of time-expired men, chiefly Cossacks, are 
encouraged to settle on lands and do so. 

It would be short-sighted to minimise the importance 
of the present drift of population to Eastern Siberia, which 



28 A NEW EMPIRE ohap.xx 

is likely to assume immense proportions on the opening 
of the railway, or the commercial value of that colossal 
undertaking, which is greatly enhanced by the treaty 
under which Bussia has taken powers to run the Trans- 
Siberian line through Chinese Manchuria. The creation 
of a new route which will bring the Far East within 6000 
miles and 16 days of London, and cheapen the cost of the 
transit of passengers very considerably, cannot be over- 
looked either. The railroad is being built for futurity, 
and is an enterprise worthy of the great nation which 
undertakes it."^ 

^ I am very glad to be able to fortify my opinion of the solid and 
careful construction of this line by that of Colonel Waters, military 
attach^ to the British Embassy at St. Petersburg, who has recently crossed 
Siberia, and desires to give emphatic testimony to *'the magnificent 
character of the great railway crossing Siberia," as well as by that of 
another recent traveller, Mr. J. Y. Simpson, who, in Blaclcwood*s Magcudne 
for January 1897, in an article *'The Great Siberian Iron Road," after a 
long description of the laborious carefulness with which the line is being 
built, writes thus : '* Lastly, one is impressed with the extremely finished 
nature of the work." 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE king's oath — ^THE KING AND QUEEN 

Leaving Wladivostok by the last Japanese steamer of the 
season, I spent two days at Won-san, little changed, except 
that its background of mountains was snow-covered, that 
the Koreans were enriched by the extravagant sums paid 
for labour by the Japanese during the war, that business 
was active, and that Japanese sentries in wooden sentry- 
boxes guarded the peaceful streets. Twelve thousand 
Japanese troops had passed through Won-san on their way 
to Phyong-yang. At Fusan, my next point, there were 
200 Japanese soldiers, new waterworks, and a military 
cemetery on a height, in which the number of graves 
showed an enormous Japanese mortality. 

Reaching Chemulpo on 5th January 1895, vid Nagasaki, 
I found a singular contrast to the crowd, bustle, and ex- 
citement of the previous June. In the outer harbour there 
were two foreign warships only, in the inner three Japanese 
merchant steamers. The former predominant military 
element was represented by a few soldiers, ten large 
hospital sheds, and a crowded cemetery, in which the 
Japanese military dead lie in rows of 60, each grave 



30 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

marked by a wooden obelisk. The solid and crowded 
Chinese quarter, with its roaring trade, large shops, and 
noise of drums, gongs, and crackers, by day and night, was 
silent and deserted, and not a single Chinese was in the 
street as I went up to I-tai's inn. One shop had ventured 
to reopen. At night, instead of throngs, noise, lights, and 
jollification, there was a solitary glimmer Arom behind a 
closed shutter. The Japanese occupation had been as 
destructive of that quarter of Chemulpo as a mediaeval 
pestilence. 

In the Japanese quarter and all along the shore the 
utmost activity prevailed. The beach was stacked with 
incoming and outgoing cargo. The streets were only just 
passable, not alone from the enormous traffic on bulls' and 
coolies' backs, but from the piles of beans and rice which 
were being measured and packed on the roadway. Prices 
were high, wages had more than doubled, " squeezing " was 
diminished, and the Koreans were working with a wilL 

I went up to Seoul on horseback, snow falling the 
whole time. So safe was the country that no escort was 
needed, and I rode as far as Oricol without even a mapu. 
The half-way house of my first visit was a Japanese post, 
and going to it in ignorance of the change, I was very 
kindly received by the Japanese soldiers, who gave me tea 
and a brazier of charcoal The Seoul road, pegged out by 
Japanese surveyors for a railroad, was thickly sprinkled 
for the whole distance with laden men and bulls. 

At Seoul I was the guest of Mr. Hillier, the British 
Consul-General, for five weeks. The weather was glorious, 
and the mercury sank on two occasions to V below zero, 
the lowest temperature on record. I received the warmest 



XXI THE ASCENDENCY OF JAPAN 31 

welcome from the kindly foreign community, and was 
steeped in Seoul life, the political and other interests 
growing upon me daily ; and having a pony and a soldier 
at my disposal, I saw the city in all its turnings and 
windings, and the charming country outside the gates, 
and several of the Eoyal tombs with their fine trees, and 
avenues of stately stone figures. 

The stagnation of the previous winter was at an end. 
Japan was in the ascendant. She had a large garrison in 
the capital, some of the leading men in the Cabinet were 
her nominees, her officers were drilling the Korean army, 
changes, if not improvements, were everywhere, and the 
air was thick with rumours of more to come. The King, 
whose Eoyal authority was nominally restored to him, 
accepted the situation, the Queen was credited with 
intriguing against the Japanese, but Count Inouye was 
acting as Japanese minist^er, and his firmness and tact 
kept everything smooth on the surface. 

On the 8th of January 1895 I witnessed a singular cere- 
mony,whichmayhavefar-reaching results inKorean history. 
The Japanese, having presented Korea with the gift of 
Independence, demanded that the King should formally 
and publicly renounce the suzerainty of China, and having 
resolved to cleanse the Augean stable of official corrup- 
tion, they compelled him to inaugurate the task by pro- 
ceeding in semi-state to the Altar of the Spirits of the 
Land, and there proclaiming Korean independence, and 
swearing before the spirits of his ancestors to the 
proposed reforms. His Majesty, by exaggerating a trivial 
ailment, had for some time delayed a step which was very 
repulsive to him, and even the day before the ceremony, a 



34 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

the King at the last moment would resist the foreign 
pressure, the procession emerged from the Palace gate — 
huge flags on trident-headed poles, purple bundles carried 
aloft, a stand of stones conveyed with much ceremony^ 
— groups of scarlet- and blue-robed men in hats of 
the same colours, shaped like fools' caps, the King's 
personal servants in yellow robes and yellow bamboo hats, 
and men carrying bannerets. Then came the red silk 
umbrella, followed not by the magnificent State chair 
with its forty bearers, but by a plain wooden chair with 
glass sides, in which sat the sovereign, pale and dejected, 
borne by only four men. The Crown Prince followed in a 
similar chair. Mandarins, ministers, and military officers 
were then assisted to mount their caparisoned ponies, and 
each, with two attendants holding his stirrups and two 
more leading his pony, fell in behind the Home Minister, 
riding a dark donkey, and rendered conspicuous by his 
foreign saddle and foreign guard. When the procession 
reached the sacred enclosure, the military escort and the 
greater part of the cavalcade remained outside the wall, 
only the King, dignitaries, and principal attendants pro- 
ceeding to the altar. The grouping of the scarlet-robed 
men under the dark pines was most effective from an 
artistic point of view, and from a political standpoint the 
taking of the following oath by the Korean King was one 
of the most significant acts in the tedious drama of the 
late war. 

^ These are ancient musical instruments called by the Chinese ch'ing, 
and were in use at courts in the days of Confucius. 



XXI THE ROYAL OATH 35 



THE KING'S OATH 

On this ISth day of the 12th moon of the 503rd year of the 
founding of the Dynasty, we presome to announce clearly to the 
Spirits of an oar Sacred Imperial Ancestors that we, their lowly 
deBoendant^ received in early childhood, now thirty and one years 
ago, the mighty heritage of onr ancestors, and that in reverent awe 
towards Heaven, and following in the rule and pattern of our 
anoestoifl^ we^ thou^ we have encountered many troubles, have not 
loosed hold of the thread. How dare we, your lowly descendant, 
aver that we are acceptable to the heart of Heaven ? It is only 
that our ancestors have graciously looked dovm upon us and 
benignly protected ua Splendidly did our ancestor lay the 
foundation of our Royal House, opening a way for us his de- 
scendants through five hundred years and three. Now, in our 
generation, the times are mightily changed, and men and matters 
are expanding. A friendly Power, designing to prove &ithful, and 
the deliberations of our Goundl aiding thereto, show that only as 
an independent ruler can we make our country strong. How can 
we, your lowly descendant, not conform to the spirit of the time 
and thus guard the domain bequeathed by our ancestors ? How 
venture not to strenuously exert ourselves and stiffen and anneal 
ns in order to add lustre to the virtues of our predecessors ? For 
all lime from now no other State will we lean upon, but will 
make broad the steps of our country towards prosperity, building 
up the happiness of our people in order to strengthen the founda- 
tions of our independence. When we ponder on Uiis course, let 
there be no sticking in the old ways, no practice of ease or of 
dalliance ; but docilely let us carry out the great designs of our 
ancestors, watching and observing sublunary conditions, reforming 
our internal administration, remedying there accumulated abuses. 

We, your lowly descendant, do now take the fourteen clauses of 
the Qreat Charter and swear before the Spirits of our Ancestors in 
Heaven that we, reverently trusting in the merits bequeathed by 
our ancestors, will bring these to a successful issue, nor will we 
dare to go back on our word. Do you, bright Spirits, descend and 
behold ! 



36 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap 

1. All thoughts of dependence on China shall be cut away, and 
a firm foundation for independence secured. 

2. A rule and ordinance for the Royal House shall be estab- 
lished, in order to make clear the line of succession and precedence 
among the Royal family. 

3. The King shall attend at the Great Hall for the inspection 
of afifairs, where, after personally interrogating his Ministers, he 
shall decide upon matters of State. The Queen and the Royal 
family are not allowed to interfere. 

4. Palace matters and the government of the country must be 
kept separate, and may not be mixed up together. 

5. The duties and powers of the Cabinet and of the various 
Ministers shall be clearly defined. 

6. The payment of taxes by the people shall be regulated by 
law. Wrongful additions may not be made to the list, and no 
excess collected. 

7. The assessment and collection of the land tax, and the dis- 
bursement of expenditure, shall be under the charge and control of 
the Finance Department. 

8. The expenses of the Royal household shall be the first to be 
reduced, by way of setting an example to the various Ministries 
and local officials. 

9. An estimate shall be drawn up in advance each year of the 
expenditure of the Royal household and the various official estab- 
lishments, putting on a fiiTu foundation the management of the 
revenue. 

10. The regulations of the local officers must be revised in 
order to discriminate the functions of the local officials. 

11. Young men of intelligence in the country shall be sent 
abroad in order to study foreign science and industries. 

12. The instruction of army officers, and the practice of the 
methods of enlistment, to secure the foundation of a military 
system. 

13. Civil law and criminal law must be strictly and clearly 
laid do¥m ; none must be imprisoned or fined in excess, so that 
security of life and property may be ensured for all alike. 

14. Men shall be employed without regard to their origin^ and 



xxi THE KYENG-POK PALACE 37 

in seeking for offidalB recourse shall be had to capital and country 
alike in order to widen the avenues for ability. 

Official translation of the text of the oath taken by His 

Majesty the King of Korea, at the Altar of Heaven, 

Seoul, on January 8, 1895. 

Though at this date Korea is being reformed under 
other than Japanese auspices, it is noteworthy that nearly 
every step in advance is on the lines laid down by Japan. 

Count Inouye is reported by the NvM Niohi Shiwhun 
to have said regarding Korea, "In my eyes there were 
only the Eoyal Family and the nation." Such a con- 
clusion was legitimate in the early part of 1895, and in 
arriving at it as I did I am glad to be sheltered by such an 
unexceptionable authority. 

Hence it was with real pleasure that I received an 
invitation from the Queen to a private audience, to which 
I was accompanied by Mrs. Underwood, an American 
medical missionary and the Queen's physician and valued 
Mend. Mr. Hillier sent me to the Kyeng-pok Palace in 
an eight-bearer ofl&cial chair, escorted by the Korean Lega- 
tion Guard. I have been altogether six times at this 
palace, and always with increased wonder at its intricacy, 
and admiration of its quaintness and beauty. 

Entering by a grand three-arched gateway with its 
stone-balustraded stone staircase, and stone lions on stone 
pedestals below, one is bewildered by the number of large 
flagged courtyards, huge audience-halls, pavilions, build- 
ings of all descriptions more or less decorated, stone 
bridges, narrow peissages, and gateways with double- 
tiered carved roofs, through and among which one passes. 
A Japanese policeman was at the grand gate. At each 



38 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

of the interior gates, and there are many, there were eix 
Korean sentries lounging, who pulled themselves together 
as we approached and presented arms ! What with 800 
troops 1500 attendants and 
ofliciala of aU deacnptions 
courtiers and mimsters and 
their attendant'* secretaries 
messengers and hangers on 
the vast enclosure of tlie 
Palice seemed as crowded and 
populated as the city itself 
We had nearly half a mile of 
buildings to pass through he 
fore we reached a veiy pretty 
artificial lake with a decora 
tive island pavilion m the 
centre nearwhich are a foreign 
palace huilt not long hefore 
ind the simple Korean build 
mgs then ocrupied by the 
King and Queen Alighting 
at the gateway of the conrt- 
yai-d which led to the Queen's 
house, we were received by the Court interpreter, a number 
of eunuchs, two of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, and her 
nurse, who was at the head of the Palace ladies— a very 
privileged person, middle-aged, with decidedly fine features. 
In a simple room hung with yellow silk we were enter- 
tained in courteous fashion with coffee and cake on arriving, 
and afterwards at dinner, the nurse, " supported " by the 
Court interpreter, takmg the head of the very prettily 




LiDT-m-WAmtia, 



XXX THE KOREAN QUEEN 39 

decorated table. The dinner was admirably cooked in 
" foreign style," and included soup, fish, quails, wild duck, 
pheasant, stuflfed and rolled beef, vegetables, creams, glac6 
walnuts, fruit, claret, and coflfee. Several of the Court 
ladies and others sat at table with us. After this long 
delay we were ushered, accompanied only by the inter- 
preter, into a small audience-room, upon the dais at one end 
of which stood the King, the Crown Prince, and the Queen, 
in front of three crimson velvet chairs, which, after Mrs. 
Underwood had presented me, they resumed, and asked us 
to be seated on two chairs which were provided. 

Her Majesty, who was then past forty, was a very 
nice-looking slender woman, with glossy raven-black hair 
and a very pale skin, the pallor enhanced by the use of pearl 
powder. The eyes were cold and keen, and the general 
expression one of brilliant intelligence. She wore a very 
handsome, very full, and very long skirt of mazarine blue 
brocade, heavily pleated, with the waist under the arms, 
and a full-sleeved bodice of crimson and blue brocade, 
clasped at the throat by a coral rosette, and girdled by six 
crimson and blue cords, each one clasped with a coral 
rosette, with a crimson silk tassel hanging from it. Her 
head-dress was a crownless black silk cap edged with fur, 
pointed over the brow, with a coral rose and full red tassel 
in front, and jewelled aigrettes on either side. Her shoes 
were of the same brocade as her dress. As soon as she 
began to speak, and specially when she became interested 
in conversation, her face lighted up into something very 
like beauty. 

The King is short and sallow, certainly a plain man, 
wearing a thin moustache and a tuft on the chin. He is 



40 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 
nervous and twitchea Ms liands, but bis pose and manner 




are not without dignity. His lace is jjleasing, and his 



XXI ROYAL COSTUME 41 

kindliness of nature is well known. In conversation 
the Queen prompted him a good deal He and the 
Crown Prince were dressed alike in white leather shoes, 
wadded silk socks, and voluminous wadded white trousers. 
Over these they wore first, white silk tunics, next pale 
green ones, and over all sleeveless dresses of mazarine blue 
brocade. The whole costume, being exquisitely fresh, 
was pleasing. On their heads they wore hats and 
mang-kuns of very fine horsehair gauze, with black silk 
hoods bordered with fur, for the mercury stood at 
5® below zero. The Crown Prince is fat and flabby, and 
though unfortunately very near-sighted, etiquette forbids 
him to wear spectacles, and at that time he produced on 
every one, as on me, the impression of being completely an 
invalid. He was the only son and the idol of his mother, who 
lived in ceaseless anxiety about his health, and in dread 
lest the son of a concubine should be declared heir to the 
throne. To this cause must be attributed several of her 
unscrupulous acts, her invoking the continual aid of sor- 
cerers, and her always -increasing benefactions to the 
Buddhist monks. During much of the audience mother 
and son sat with clasped hands. 

After the Queen had said many kind things to me 
personally, showing herself quick-witted as well as court- 
eous, she said something to the King, who immediately 
took up the conversation and continued it for another 
half-hour. At the close of the audience I asked leave to 
photograph the Lake Pavilion, and the King said, " Why 
that alone? come many days and photograph many things," 
mentioning several ; and he added, " I should like you to 
be suitably attended." We then curtseyed ourselves out. 



42 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

after a very agreeable and interesting hour, and as it was 
dusk, the King sent soldiers with us, and a number of 
lantern-bearers, with floating drapery of red and green 
silk gauze. 

Two days later the " suitable attendance " turned out to 
be an unwieldy and embarrassing crowd, consisting of five 
military officers, half a regiment of soldiers, and a number 
of Palace attendants ! I was greatly impressed by a cer- 
tain grandeur and stateliness in the buildings, the vast 
Hall of Audience resting on a much -elevated terrace 
ascended by a triple flight of granite stairs, the noble 
proportions of the building, the richly-carved ceiling with 
its manifold reticulations, painted red, blue, and green, the 
colossal circular pillars, red with white bases, and in the 
dimness of the vast area fronting the entrance, the shadowy 
splendour of the Korean throne. Grand, too, in its sim- 
plicity and solidity, is the Summer Palace or "Hall of 
Congratulations," on a stone platform approached by three 
granite bridges, in a lotus lake of oblong form beautified 
conventionally with two stone -faced islands, and by a 
broad flagged promenade carried the whole way round it 
on a stone -faced embankment. This palace is a noble 
building. The upper hall, with its vast sweeping roof, is 
supported on forty-eight granite pillars 16 feet in height 
and 3 feet square at the base — all monoliths. The situation 
and the views are beautiful. 

During the next three weeks I had three more audiences, 
on the second being accompanied as before by Mrs. 
Underwood, the third being a formal reception, and the 
fourth a strictly private interview, lasting over an hour. 
On each occasion I was impressed with the grace and 



XXI THE QUEEN'S PERSONALITY 43 

charming manner of the Queen, her thoughtful kindness, 
her singular intelligence and force, and her remarkable 
conversational power even through the medium of an 
interpreter. I was not surprised at her singular political 
influence, or her sway over the King and many others. 
She was surrounded by enemies, chief among them being 
the Tai-Won-Kun, the King's father, all embittered against 
her because by her talent and force she had succeeded in 
placing members of her family in nearly all the chief 
offices of State. Her life was a battle. She fought with 
all her charm, shrewdness, and sagacity, for power, for the 
dignity and safety of her husband and son, and for the 
downfall of the Tai-Won-Kun. She had cut short many 
lives, but in doing so she had not violated Korean tradi- 
tion and custom, and some excuse for her lies in the fSrCt 
that soon after the King's accession his father sent to the 
house of Her Majesty's brother an infernal machine in 
the shape of a beautiful box, which on being opened ex- 
ploded, killing her mother, brother, and nephew, as well 
as some others. Since then he plotted against her own 
life, and the feud between them was usually at fever heat. 
The dynasty is worn out, and the King, with all his 
amiability and kindness of heart, is weak in character 
and is at the mercy of designing men, as has appeared 
increasingly since the strong sway of the Queen was with- 
drawn. I believe him to be at heart, according to his 
lights, a patriotic sovereign. Far from standing in the 
way of reform, he has accepted most of the suggestions 
offered to him. But unfortunately for a man whose edicts 
become the law of the land, and more unfortunately for 
the land, he is persuadable by the last person who gets 



44 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

his ear, he lacks backbone and tenacity of purpose, and 
many of the best projects of reform become abortive 
through his weakness of will. To substitute constitutional 
restraints for absolutism would greatly mend matters, but 
cela va sans dire this could only be successful under 
fore^ initiative. 

The King was forty- three, the Queen a little older. 
During his minority, and while he was receiving the usual 
Chinese education, his father, the Tai-Won-Kun, who is 

— described by a Korean writer as having " bowels of iron 
and a heart of stone," ruled as Segent with excessive 
vigour for ten years, and in 1866 slaughtered 2000 

" Korean Catholics. Able, rapacious, and unscrupulous, 
his footsteps have always been blood-stained. He even 

•put to death one of his own sons. From the time when 
his Eegency ceased until the murder of the Queen, Korean 
political history is mainly the story of the deadly feud 
between the Queen and her clan and the Tai-Won-Kun. 

^ I was presented to him at the Palace, and was much im- 
pressed by the vitality and energy of his expression, his 
keen glance, and the vigour of his movements, though he 
is an old man. 

^ The King's expression is gentle. He has a wonderful 
memory, and is said to know Korean history so well that 
when any question as to fact or former custom arises he 
can give full particulars, with a precise reference to the 
reign in which any historic event occurred and to the 
date. The office of Koyal Beader is not a sinecure, and 
the Eoyal Library, which is contained in one of the most 
beautiful buildings of the Kyeng-pok Palace, is a very 

y extensive one in Chinese literatura He has no anti- 



XXI THE KING AS A RULER 46 

foreign feeling. His friendliness to foreigners is marked, 
and in his manifold perils he has frankly relied upon their 
aid. At the time of my second visit, when Japan was in 
the ascendant, the King and Queen showed special atten- 
tion and kindness to Europeans, and even invited the 
whole foreign conmiunity to a skating party on the lake. 
The King's attitude towards Christian Missions is very 
friendly, and toleration is a reality. The American 
medical attendants of both the King and Queen, as well as 
other foreigners, with whom they were in constant contact, 
were warmly attached to them, and I think that the 
general feeling among Koreans is one of affectionate 
loyalty, the blame for oppressive and mistaken actions 
being laid on the ministers. 

I have dwelt so long on the King's personality because 
he is de facto the Korean Government, and not a mere 
figure-head, as there is no constitution, written or un- 
written, no representative assembly, and it may be said 
no law except his published Edicts. He is extremely 
industrious as a ruler, acquaints himself with all the work 
of departments, receives and attends to an infinity of 
reports and memorials, and concerns himself with all that 
is done in the name of Grovemment. It is often said that 
in close attention to detail he undertakes more than any 
one man could perform. At the same time he has not 
the capacity for getting a general grip of affairs. He has 
80 much goodness of heart and so much sympathy with 
progressive ideas, that if he had more force of character 
and intellect, and were less easily swayed by unworthy 
men, he might make a good sovereign, but his weakness 
of character is fataL 



46 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

The subjects of conversation introduced at three of my 
audiences not only showed an intelligent desire for such 
information as might be serviceable, but reflected the 
reforms which the Japanese were pressing on the King. 
I was very closely questioned as to what I had seen of 
China and Siberia, as to the Siberian and Japanese rail- 
roads, cost of construction per li, as to the popular feeling 
in Japan concerning the war, etc. Again I was catechised 
£is to the avenues to official employment in England, the 
possibility of men " not of the noble class " reaching high 
positions in the Government, the position of the English 
nobility with regard to " privileges," and their attitude to 
inferiors. On one day the whole attention of the King 
and Queen was concentrated on the relations between the 
English Crown and the Cabinet, specially with regard to 
the Civil List, on which the King's questions were so 
numerous and persistent as very nearly to pose me. He 
was specially anxious to know if the " Finance Minister '* 
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I suppose) exercised 
any control over the personal expenditure of Her Majesty, 
and if the Queen's personal accounts were paid by herself 
or through the Treasury. The affairs under the control of 
each Secretary of State were the subject of another series 
of questions. 

Many queries were about the duties of the Home 
Minister, the position of the Premier, and his relations 
with the other Ministers and the Crown. He was very 
anxious to know if the Queen could dismiss her Ministers 
if they failed to carry out her wishes, and it was impossible 
to explain to him through an interpreter, to whom the 
ideas were unfamiliar, the constitutional checks on the 



r 

^B.£nglish Crown, and that the sovereign only nominally 

^Bipossesaes the right of choosing her MinisterB. 

^H Just hefore I left Korea, I waa Bummoned to a farewell 

^Kaudience, and asked to take the Legation interpreter with 

^y me, I went in an 

I eight-bearer chair, and 

was received with the 

, usual honours, soldiers 

[ipresenting anna, etc. ! 

I There was no crowd 

kof attendants and no 

I delay. As I was being 

|^eBCorted down a closed 

.ah by several 

I.eunuchs and military 

■officers, a sliding 

■-window was opened 

the King, who 

Bbeckoned to me to 

I enter, and then closed 

I found myself in 

I the raised alcove in 

which the Royal 

^_ Family usually sat, 

^^t.but the sliding panels 

^B between it and the 

1^^ audience -chamber were closed, and aa it is not more 

than 6 feet wide, it waa impossible to make the customary 

profound curtseys. Instead of the usual throng of at- 

. tendants, eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting in silk gowns a yard 

p'too long for them, and heavy coils and pillows of arti- 



A FAREWELL AUDIENCE 




48 THE KING'S OATH— THE KING AND QUEEN chap. 

ficial hair on their heads, and privileged persons stand- 
ing behind the King and Queen and crowding the many 
doorways, there were present only the Queen's nurse and 
my interpreter, who stood at a chink between the panels 
where he could not see the Queen, bent into an attitude of 
abject reverence, never lifting his eyes from the ground or 
raising his voice above a whisper. The precautions, how- 
ever, failed to secure the privacy which the King and 
Queen desired. I was certain that through the chink I 
saw the shadow of a man in the audience-room, and the 
interpreter's subsequent remark, "It was very hard {or 
me to interpret for His Majesty to-day," was intelligible 
when I heard that the " shadow " belonged to one of the 
Ministers of State specially distrusted by the King, and 
who later had to fly from Korea. It was understood that 
this person carried the substance of what the King and 
Queen said to a foreign legation. 

I cannot here allude to the matter on which the King 
spoke, but the audience, which lasted for an hour, was an 
extremely interesting one. On one point the King ex- 
pressed himself very strongly, as he has done to many 
others. He considers that, now that Korea is formally 
independent of China, she is entitled to a Besident 
Minister accredited solely to the Korean Court. He 
expressed great regard and esteem for Mr. Hillier, and 
said that nothing would be more acceptable to him than 
his appointment as the first Minister to Korea. 

The Queen spoke of Queen Victoria, and said, " She has 
everything that she cfiui wish — greatness, wealth, and power. 
Her sons and grandsons are kings and emperors, and her 
daughters empresses. Does she ever in her glory think of 



XXI A FAREWELL AUDIENCE 49 

poor Korea ? She does so much good in the world, her 
life is a good. We wish her long life and prosperity *' ; to 
which the King added, " England is our best friend." It 
was really touching to hear the occupants of that ancient 
but shaky throne speaking in this fashion. 

On this occasion the Queen was dressed in a bodice of 
brocaded amber satin, a mazarine blue brocaded trained 
skirt, a crimson girdle with five clasps and tassels of coral, 
and a coral clasp at the throat. Her head was uncovered, 
and her abundant black hair gathered into a knot at the 
back. She wore no ornament except a pearl and coral 
jewel on the top of the head. The King and Queen rose 
when I took leave, and the Queen shook hands. They 
both spoke most kindly, and expressed the wish that I 
should return and see more of Korea. When I did return 
nine months later, the Queen had been barbarously mur- 
dered, and the King was practically a prisoner in his own 
palace. 

Travellers received by the Korean King have often 
ridiculed the audience, the surroundings, and the Palace. 
I must say that I saw nothing to ridicule, unless national 
customs and etiquette varying from our own are necessarily 
ridiculous. On the contrary, there were a simplicity, dignity, 
kindliness, courtesy, and propriety which have left a very 
agreeable impression on me, and my four audiences at 
the Palace were the great feature of my second visit to 
Korea. 



VOL. II E 



CHAPTEE XXII 

A TRANSITION STAGE — ^" GREAT FIFTEENTH DAY" 

During January 1895, Seoul was in a curious condition. 
The " old order " was changing, but the new had not taken 
its place. The Japanese, victorious by land and sea, were 
in a position to enforce the reforms in which before the 
war they had asked China to co-operate. The King, since 
the capture of the Palace by the Japanese in July 1894, 
had become little more than a '' salaried automaton," and 
the once powerful members of the Min clan had been 
expelled from their offices. The Japanese were prepared 
to accept the responsibility of the supervision of all depart- 
ments, and to enforce honesty on a corrupt executive. 
The victory over the Chinese at Phyong-yang on 17th Sep- 
tember 1894 had set them free to carry out their purposes. 
Count Inouye, one of the foremost of the statesmen who 
created the new Japan, arrived as " Eesident " on October 
20, 1894, and practically administered the Government in 
the King's name. There were Japanese controllers in all 
the departments, the army was drilled by Japanese drill 
instructors, a police force was organised and clothed in 
badly-fitting Japanese uniforms, a Council of Koreans was 



OHAP. xxn JAPANESE BEFOBICS 51 

appointed to draft a scheme of refonn, and form the 
nndeuB of a possible Korean Parliament, and Oount 
Inonye as Japanese adviser had the right of continual 
access to the King, and with an interpreter and steno- 
grapher sat at the meetings of the Cabinet. Every day 
Japanese ascendency was apparent in new appointments, 
r^olations, abolitions, and reforms. The Japanese claimed 
that their purpose was to reform the administration of 
Korea as we had done that of Egypt, and I believe they 
would have done it had they been allowed a free hand. It 
was apparent, however, that Count Inouye found the task 
of reformation a far harder one than he expected, and that 
the diflSculties in his way were nearly insurmountable. 
He said himself that there were " no tools to work with," 
and in the hope of manufacturing them a large number 
of youths of the upper class were sent for two years to 
Japan, one year to be spent in education and another in 
learning accuracy and " the first principles of honour " in 
certain Government departments. 

Sundry Japanese demands, though conceded at the time 
by the King, had been allowed to drop, and it W6W not till 
December 1894 that Count Inouye obtained a formal cove- 
nant that five of them should be at once carried out. (1) A 
full pardon for all the conspirators of 1884 ; (2) That the 
Tai-Won-Kun and the Queen should interfere no more in 
public affairs ; (3) That no relatives of the Eoyal Family 
should be employed in any official capacity ; (4) That the 
number of eunuchs and " Palace ladies " should at once be 
reduced to a minimum; (5) That caste distinctions — 
patrician and plebeian — should no longer be recognised. 

Edicts on some of the foregoing subjects appeared in 



62 A TRANSITION STAGE ohap. 

the Gfazette, and large numbers of the eunuchs packed up 
their clothes and left the Palace quietly in the night, along 
with the " Palace ladies "; but the King in his vast dwelling 
was so lonely without them that the next morning he sent 
an order commanding their immediate return under serious 
penalties, and it was obeyed at once ! 

The attitude of the Korean official class, with the excep- 
tion of a small number who were personally interested in 
the success of Japan, was altogether unfavourable to the new 
rigimey and every change was regarded with indignation. 
Though destitute of true patriotism, the common people 
looked upon the King as a sacred person, and they were 
furious at the indignities to which he had been subjected. 
The official class saw that reform meant the end of" squeez- 
ing " and ill-gotten gains, and they, with the whole army 
of parasites and hangers-on of Yamens, were all pledged by 
the strongest personal interest to oppose it by active 
opposition or passive resistance. Though corruption has 
its stronghold in Seoul, every provincial government re- 
peats on a smaller scale the iniquities of the capital, and 
has its own army of dishonest and lazy officials fattening 
on the earnings of the industrious classes. 

The cleansing of the Augean stable of the Korean 
official system, which the Japanese had undertaken, was 
indeed an Herculean labour. Traditions of honour and 
honesty, if they ever existed, had been forgotten for 
centuries. Standards of official rectitude were unknown. 
In Korea when the Japanese undertook the work of reform 
there were but two classes, the robbers and the robbed, and 
the robbers included the vast army which constituted 
officialdom. "Squeezing" and peculation were the rule 



xxn THE TRANSITION STAGE 63 

from the highest to the lowest, and every position was 
bought and sold. 

The transition stage, down to 12th February 1895, when 
I left Korea, was a remarkable one. The Official Gazette 
curiously reflected that singular period. One day a decree 
aboli£^ed the three-feet-long tobacco pipes which were the 
delight of the Koreans of the capital ; another, there was 
an enlightened statute ordering the planting of pines to 
remedy the denudation of the hills around Seoul, the same 
Gazette directing that duly-appointed geomancers should 
find " an auspicious day " on which the King might worship 
at the ancestral tablets! One day barbarous and brutalis- 
ing punishments were wisely abolished; another, there 
appeared a string of vexatious and petty regulations 
calculated to harass the Chinese out of the kingdom, and 
a{)pointing as a punishment for the breach of them a fine 
of 100 dollars or 100 blows ! 

Failure in tact was one great fault of the Japanese. The 
seizure of the Palace and the King's person in July 1894, 
even if a dubious politieal necessity, did not excuse the 
indignities to which the sovereign was exposed. The 
forcing of former conspirators into high office was a grave 
error, and tactless proceedings, such as the abolition of 
long pipes, alterations in Court and other dress, many 
interferences with social customs, and petty and harassing 
restrictions and regulations, embittered the people against 
the new r^me. 

The Tong-haks, who had respectftdly thrown ofif alle- 
giance to the King on the ground that he was in the hands 
of foreigners, and had appointed another sovereign, had 
been vanquished early in January, and then- king's head 



64 A TEAN8ITI0N STAGE OHAP. 

had been eent to Seoul by a loyal governor. There I saw 
it in the busieBt part of the Peking Koad, a buatling market 
outride the "little West Gate," hanging from a rnde 
arrangement of tOuee 
sticks like a camp- 
kettle stand, with an- 
other head below it 
Both faces wore a 
calm, almost dignified, 
ezpieaaion. Not for 
ofT two more heads 
had been exposed in 
a similar frame, hat 
it had given way, and 
they lay in the dost 
of the roadway, maoh 
gnawed by dogs at 
' the back. The last 
f^ony was stiffened 
on their features. A 
turnip lay beside 
them, and some small 
children cat pieces 
from it and presented them mockingly to the blackened 
mouths. This brutalieing spectacle had existed for a 
week. 

Three days later, in the atUlness of the Korean New 
Year's Day, I rode with a friend along a lonely road pass- 
ing throngh a fair agricultural valley among pine-clotbed 
knolls outside the South and East Gates of Seoul Snow 
lay on the ground and the grim sky threatened a farther 




xm EXPOSURE OF HEADLESS BODIES 66 

storm. It was cold, and we observed with surprise three 
coolies in summer cotton clothing lying by the roadside 
asleep ; but it was the last sleep, for on approaching them 
we found that, though their attitudes were those of easy 
repose, the bodies were without heads, nor had the heads- 
man's axe been merciful or sharp. In the middle of the 
road were great, frozen, crimson splashes where the Tong- 
hak leaders had expiated their treason, criminals in Korea, 
as in old Jerusalem, suffering " without the gate." 

A few days later an order appeared in the Gazette 
abolishing beheading and " slicing to death," and substi- 
tuting death by strangulation for civil, and by shooting for 
military capital crimes. This order practically made an 
end of the prerogative of life and death heretofore possessed 
by the Korean sovereigns. 

So the "old order" was daily changing under the 
pressure of the Japanese advisers, and on the whole 
changing most decidedly for the better, though, owing to 
the number of reforms decreed and in, contemplation, 
everything was in a tentative and chaotic stata Korea 
was " swithering " between China and Japan, afraid to go 
in heartily for the reforms initiated by Japan lest China 
should regain position and be "down" upon her, and 
afraid to oppose them actively lest Japan should be per- 
manently successful. 

On that same New Year's Day there was more to be 
seen than headless trunks. Through the length of Seoul, 
towards twilight, an odour of burning hair overpowered 
the aromatic scent of the pine brush, and all down every 
street, outside every door, there were red glimmers of 
light. It is the custom in every family on that day to 



66 "GREAT FIFTEENTH DAY'' chap. 

carry out the carefuUy-preserved cUppings and combings 
of the family hair and burn them in potsherds, a practice 
which it is hoped will prevent the entrance of certain 
daemons into the house during the year. Eude straw dolls 
stuffed with a few cash were also thrown into the street 
This eflSgy is believed to take away troubles and foist them 
on whoever picks it up. To prevent such a vicarious 
calamity, more than one mother on that evening pounced 
upon a child who child-like had picked up the doll and 
threw it far from him. 

On that night round pieces of red or white paper placed 
in cleft sticks are put upon the roofs of houses, and those 
persons who have been warned by the sorcerers of troubles 
to come, pray (?) to the moon to remove them. 

A common Korean custom on the same day is for people 
to paint images on paper, and to write against them their 
Jble. of Ly o, 'JLd, .tte™* gi:^ «« p.p« .0 . 
boy who bums it. 

A more singular New Year custom in Seoul is " Walk- 
ing the Bridges." Up to midnight, men, women, and 
children cross a bridge or bridges as many times a^ they 
are years old. This is believed to prevent pains in the 
feet and legs during the year. 

This day, the " Great Fifteenth Day," concludes the kite- 
flying and stone fights which enliven Seoul for the previouB 
fortnight, and every Korean insists on keeping it as a 
holiday. Graves are formally visited, and gathered families 
spread food before the ancestral tablets. Curious customs 
prevail at this time. A few days before, the Palace 
eunuchs chant invocations, swinging burning torches as 
they do so. This is supposed to ensure bountiful crops for 



xm NEW YEAH SUPERSTITIONS 57 

the next season. People buy quantities of nuts, which 
they crack, hold the kernels in the mouth, and then throw 
them away. This is to prevent summer sores and boils. 
Also on the Great Fifteenth Day men try to find out the 
probable rainfall for each month by splitting a small piece 
of bamboo, and laying twelve beans side by side in one of 
the halves, after which it is closed, and after being bound 
tightly with cord, is lowered into a well for the night. 
Each bean represents a month. In the morning, when 
they are examined in rotation, they are variously enlarged, 
and the' enlargement indicates the proportion of rain in 
that special moon. If, on the contrary, one or more are 
wizened, it causes great alarm, as indicating complete or 
partial drought in one or more months. Dogs do not get 
their usual meal on the morning of the " Great Fifteenth," 
in the belief that the deprivation will keep them from 
being pestered with flies during the long summer. 

K a boy has been bom during the year, poles bearing 
paper fish by day and lanterns by night project from the 
house of the parents. The people at night watch the 
burning of candles. If they are entirely burned, the life 
of the child will be long ; if only partially burned, it will 
be proportionately shorter. 

I left Seoul very regretfully on 5th February. The 
Japanese had introduced jinrikshas, but the runners 
were unskilled, and I met with so severe an accident in 
going down to Chemulpo that I did not recover for a year. 
The line of steamers to Japan was totally disorganised by 
the war, and in the week that I waited for the Sigo Maru 
war was uppermost in people's thoughts. There were some 
who even then could not bring themselves to believe in 



/" 



58 "GREAT FIFTEENTH DAY" chap. 

the eventual success of the Japanese. The fall of Wei- 
hai-wei and the capture of the Chinese fleet opened many 
eyes. I was in the oflBce of the " N.Y.K." when the news 
came, and the clerks were too wild with excitement to 
attend to me, apologising by saying, " It's another victory!" 
Chemulpo was decorated, illuminated, and processioned for 
victories, li Hung Chang was burned in eflBgy, and un- 
limited salce for all comers was supplied from tubs at the 
street comers. 

There were indications of the cost of victory, however. 
The great military hospitals were full, the cemetery was 
filling fast, military funerals with military pomp and 
Shinto priests passed down the bannered street, and 600 
transport cooUes tramping from Manchuria arrived in rags 
and tatters, some clothed in raw hides and raw skins of 
sheep, their feet, hands, and lips frost-bitten, and with 
blackened stumps of fingers and toes protruding &om 
filthy bandages. The Japanese schools teach that Japan 
has a right to demand all that a man has, and that life 
itseK is not too costly a sacrifice for him to lay on the 
altar of his country. Undoubtedly the teaching bears 
fruit. Not long before at Osaka I saw the wharves piled 
high with voluntary contributions for the troops, and the 
Third Army leave the city amidst an outburst of popular 
enthusiasm such as I never saw equalled. Most of these 
coolies, when they received new clothing, volunteered for 
further service, and dying soldiers on battlefields and in 
hospitals uttered " Dai Nippon Banzai ! " (Great Japan for 
ever !) with their last faltering breath. 

When I left Korea the condition of things may be 
summarised thus. Japan was thoroughly in earnest as 



xxn JAPANESE ASCENDENCY 69 

to reforming the Korean administration through Koreans, 
and very many reforms were decreed or in contemplation, 
while some evils and abuses were already swept away. 
The King, deprived of his absolute sovereignty, was prac- 
tically a salaried registrar of decrees. Count Inouye 
occupied the position of " Kesident," and the Government 
was administered in the King's name by a Cabinet con- 
sisting of the heads of ten departments, in some measure 
the nominees of the "Eesident."^ 

^ I repeat this statement in this form for the benefit of the reader, and 
ask him to compare it with a sommary of Korean affairs early in 1897, 
given in chapter zxxyi of this yolume. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY 

In May 1895 a treaty of peace between China and Japan 
was signed at Shimonoseki, a heavy indemnity, the island 
of Formosa, and a great accession of prestige, being the 
gains of Japan. From thenceforward no' power having 
interests in the Far East could a£ford to regard her as a 
guantitS n^ligSaile, 

After travelling for some months in South and Mid 
China, and spending the summer in Japan, I arrived in 
'^ Nagasaki in October 1895, to hear a rumour of the assas- 
sination of the Korean Queen, afterwards confirmed on 
board the Swruga Mam by Mr. SUl, the American Minister, 
who was hurrying back to his post in Seoul in con- 
sequence of the disturbed state of affairs. I went up 
immediately from Chemulpo to the capital, where I was 
^ Mr. Hillier's guest at the English Legation for two 
exciting months. 

The native and foreign communities were naturally 
much excited by the tragedy at the Palace, and the 
treatment which the King was receiving. Count Inouye, 
whose presence in Seoul always produced confidence, had 



CH. xxin THE QUEEN AND COUNT INOUYE 61 

left a month before, and had been succeeded by General 
Viscount Miura, a capable soldier, without diplomatic 
experience. 

In an interview which Count Inouye had with the 
Queen shortly before his departure, speaking of the 
ascendency of the Tai-Won-Kun, after the capture of the 
Palace by Mr. Otori in the previous July, Her Majesty 
said, " It is a matter of regret to me that the overtures made 
by me towards Japan were rejected. The Tai-Won-Kun, 
on the other hand, who showed his unfriendliness towards 
Japan, was assisted by the Japanese Minister to rise in 
power." 

In the despatch in which Count Inouye reported this 
interview to his Government he wrote :— 

I gave as £Eur as I could an explanation of these things to the 
Queen, and after so allaying her suspicions, I further explained that 
it was the true and sincere desire of the Emperor and Gktvemment 
of Japan to place the independence of Korea on a firm basis, and 
in the meantime to strengthen the Royal House of Korea. In the 
everU of any member of the Royal Famihfy or indeed any Korean, 
therefore attempting treason against the Royal House, I gave the assv/r- 
ance that the Japanese Ooverwment wovM not fail to protect the Royal 
House even by force of arms, and so secv/re the safety of the kmgdom. 
These remarks of mine seemed to have moved the King and Queen, 
and their anxiety for the future appeared to be much relieved. 

The Korean sovereigns would naturally think them- 
selves justified in relying on the promise so frankly given 
by one of the most distinguished of Japanese statesmen, 
whom they had learned to regard with confidence and 
respect, and it is clear to myself that when the fateful 
night came, a month later, their reliance on this assurance 



62 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap. 

led them to omit certain possible precautions, and caused 
the Queen to neglect to make her escape at the first hint 
of danger. 

When the well-known arrangement between Viscount 
Miura and the Tai-Won-Kun was ripe for execution, the 
Japanese Minister directed the Commandant of the 
Japanese battalion quartered in the barracks just otitside 
the Palace gate to facilitate the Tai-Won-Kun's entry into 
the Palace by arranging the disposition of the Kv/nr-ren-tai 
(Korean troops drilled by Japanese), and by calling out 
the Imperial force to support them. Miura also called 
upon two Japanese to collect their Mends, go to Biong 
San on the Han, where the intriguing Prince was then 
living, and act as his bodyguard on his journey to the 
Palace. The Minister told them that on the success of 
the enterprise depended the eradication of the evils which 
had afflicted the kingdom for twenty years, and instigated 

THEM TO DESPATCH THE QUEEN WHEN THEY ENTERED THE 

Palace. One of Miura's agents then ordered the Japanese 
policemen who were off duty to put on civilian dress, 
provide themselves with swords, and accompany the con- 
spirators to the Tai-Won-Kun's house. 

At 3 AM. on the morning of the 8th of October they left 
Eiong San, escorting the Prince's palanquin, Mr. Okamoto, 
to whom much had been entrusted, assembling the whole 
party when on the point of departure, and declaring to 
them that on entering the Palace the " Fox " should be dealt 
with according " as exigency might require." Then this 
procession, including ten Japanese who had dressed them- 
selves in uniforms taken from ten captured Korean police, 
started for Seoul, more than three miles distant. Outside 



xxra THE HIROSHIMA JUDGMENT 63 

• 

the " Gate of Staunch Loyalty " they were met by the Kun- 
Ten4ai, and then waited for the arrival of the Japanese 
troops, after which they proceeded at a rapid pace to the 
Palace, entering it by the front gate, and after killing 
some of the Palace Guard, proceeded a quarter of a mile to 
the buildings occupied by the King and Queen, which have 
a narrow courtyard in front. 

So far I have followed the Hiroshima judgment in its 
statement of the facts of that morning, but when it has 
conducted the combined force to " the inner chambers " it 
concludes abruptly with a " not proven " in the case of all 
the accused ! For the rest of the story, so far as it may 
interest my readers, I follow the statements of General 
Dye and Mr. Sabatin of the King's Guard, and of certain 
ofGicial documents. 

It is necessary here to go back upon various events 
wliich preceded the murder of Her Majesty. Trouble 
arose in October between the Kun-ren-tai and the Seoul 
police, resulting in the total defeat of the latter. The 
Krm-re7i-tai, numbering 1000, were commanded by Colonel 
Hong, who in 1882 had rescued the Queen from imminent 
danger, and was trusted by the Royal Family. The Palace 
was in the hands of the Old Guard under Colonel Hyon, 
who had saved Her Majesty's life in 1884. In the first 
week of October the strength of this Guard was greatly 
reduced, useful weapons were quietly withdrawn, and the 
ammunition was removed. 

On the night of the 7th the Kun-ren-tai, with their 
Japanese instructors, marched and countermarched till 
they were fomid on all sides of the Palace, causing some 
uneasiness within. The alarm was given to General Dye 



64 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY ohap. 

and Mr. Sabatin early on the morning of the 8th.^ These 
oflBcers, looking through a chink of the gate, saw a number 
of Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonets standing there, 
who, on being asked what they were doing, filed right and 
left out of the moonlight under the shadow of the walL 
Skulking under another part of the wall were over 200 of 
the Kun-ren-tai. The two foreigners were consulting as 
to the steps to be taken when heavy sounds of battering 
came from the grand entrance gate, followed by firing. 

Greneral Dye attempted to rally the Guard, but after five 
or six volleys from the assailants they broke with such a 
rush as to sweep the two foreigners past the King's house 
to the gateway of the Queen's. No clear account has ever 
been given of the events which followed. Colonel Hong, 
the commander of the Kun-ren-tai, was cut down by a 
Japanese officer at the great gate, and was afterwards 
mortally wounded by eight bullets. The Kvmr-refnAai 
swarmed into the Palace from all directions, along with 
Japanese civilians armed with swords, who frantically 
demanded the whereabouts of the Queen, hauling the 
Palace ladies about by the hair to compel them to point 
out Her Majesty, rushing in and out of windows, throwing 
the ladies-in-waiting from the seven-feet-high verandah 
into the compound, cutting and kicking them, and brutaUy 
murdering two in the hope that they had thus secured 
their victim. 

Japanese troops also entered the Palace, and formed in 
military order under the command of their officers round 

^ General Dye, late of the U.S. anny, was instructor of the Old Guard. 
Mr. Sabatin, a Russian subject, was temporarily employed as a watchman 
to see that the sentries were at their posts. 



XXIII THE QUEEN ASSASSINATED 65 

the small courtyard of the King's house and at its gate, 
protecting the assassins in their murderous work. Before 
this force of Japanese regulars arrived there was a flying 
rout of servants, runners, and Paletce Guards rushing from 
every point of the vast enclosure in mad haste to get out 
of the gates. As the Japanese entered the building, the 
unfortunate King, hoping to divert their attention and give 
the Queen time to escape, came into a front room where he 
could be distinctly seen. Some of the Japanese assassins 
rushed in brandishing their swords, pulled His Majesty 
about, and beat and dragged about some of the Palace 
ladies by the hair in his presence. The Crown Prince, who 
was in an inner room, was seized, his hat torn off and 
broken, and he was pulled about by the hair and threatened 
with swords to make him show the way to the Queen, but 
he managed to reach the King, and they have never been 
separated since. 

The whole affair did not occupy much more than an 
hour. The Crown Prince saw his mother rush down a 
passage followed by a Japanese with a sword, and there 
was a general rush of assassins for her sleeping apartments. 
In the upper storey the Crown Princess was found with 
several ladies, and she was dragged by the hair, cut with 
a sword, beaten, and thrown downstairs. Yi Kyong-jik, 
Minister of the Koyal Household, seems to have given the 
alarm, for the Queen was dressed and was preparing to 
run and hide herself. When the murderers rushed in, he 
stood with outstretched arms in front of Her Majesty, 
trying to protect her, furnishing them with the clue they 
wanted. They slashed off both his hands and inflicted 
other wounds, but he contrived to drag himself along 

VOL. II F 



66 A DARK CHAPTER OF EOEEAN HISTORY chap. 

the Terandah into the King's presence, where he bled to 
death. 

The Queen, flying from the aBsasainB, was overtaken 

and stabbed, falling down as if dead, but one account says 
that, recovering a little, she asked if the Crown Prince, her 
idol, was safe, on which a Japanese jumped on her breast 
and stabbed her through and through with his sword. 
Even then, though the nurse whom I formerly saw in 




attendance on her covered lier face, it is not certain that 
she was dead, but the Japanese laid her on a plank, 
wrapped a silk quilt round her, and she was carried to a 
grove of piues in the adjacent deer park, where kerosene 
oil waa poured over the body, which was surrounded by 
fagots and burned, only a few small bones escaping 
destruction. 
'T- Thus perished, at the age of forty-four, by the hands of 
foreign assassins, instigated to their bloody work by the 
Minister of a friendly power, the clever, ambitioua, in- 



xxm AFTER THE MVRDEK «t 

triguii^ fiflrinating. and in nuuiy ly^v^'l^ K^v^M^ 
Queen of Kooml In her lifiL^'liuie i\mni ln\M^\>^. wh^^m^ 
verdict for many reasons umj Nl^ ao<^)Ui;k)« smiu), '' Ht^v 
Majesty has few equals among her ctHU\trym<M\ fur «i)\i^w\) 
ness and sagacity. In the art of concilinUiiK ^^^^ t^ut>u^ti^ 
and winning the confidence of her sH>rvautii Mht^ h«Mi uo 
equals." 

A short time after daylight the T)u-Won-K\ni Umtml 
two proclamations, of which the following HonUMUH^M utii 
specimens : — 

Ist, **The hearts of the people diaaolve throuKh iho pruMntttfH ill 
the Palace of a crowd of base fellows. Ho tliit National (Iratiil 
Duke is returned to power to inaugurate i!liant(iM, nxpsl tlm Inmm 
fellows, restore former laws, and vindicate tks dlKiiliy i»f Ills 
Majesty.'' 

2nd, << I have now entered the Palace ii> aid Ills MsJ^siy, »n\m\ iim 
low fellows^ perfect that which will }m a htttrnfii, sav«i ilm tamitiry, 
and intiodnee peace." 

The Palace gates were guanWl t;y Um muiUu^m Him 
rai'tai with fixed hay<inetii, wly^ all//w^i « f'jinmUiUi 
stzeam of Koreans to p«a0 oat, th« r*nMtH$$Ui //f Urn 01/1 
Fdaee Goaid, who bad thrown off ttMrir uuiUm$m h$$A 
hidden thetr an&i, eaefa uao b^fl^ t^yM h$$4 mtn^ii^^t 
faefere ia^ exit w^ yxuaVifA. S^s^ tl^ j$t4^ wm h^^^'uh- 
■OB pKil iMririfigtflfeyA wbi^pe 0>loM» Mz/fi^ M\, Vf0^ 
€t utt ILsam^n wen ^» ^;r«^ i'jmMM^A U'm ^i^Af ^M#, 

is fi^ IC^arlj ^*rT 'uw; •Vy w^ U^oM^ if 1t^ Kk^ 



68 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap. 

who, later, when they did not find the Cabinet, which was 
chiefly of their own creation, sufficiently subservient, used 
to threaten it with drawn swords. 

Viscount Miura arrived at the Palace at daylight, with 
Mr. Sugimura, Secretary of the Japanese Legation (who 
had arranged the details of the plot), and a certain Japanese 
who had been seen by the King apparently leading the 
assassins, and actively participating in the bloody work, 
and had an audience of His Majesty, who was profoundly 
agitated. He signed three documents at their bidding, 
after which the Japanese troops were withdrawn from the 
Palace, and the armed forces, and even the King's personal 
attendants, were placed under the orders of those who had 
been concerned in the attack. The Tai-Won-Kun was 
present at this audience. 

During the day all the Foreign Representatives had 
audiences of the King, who was much agitated, sobbed at 
intervals, and, believing the Queen to have escaped, was 
very solicitous about his own safety, as he was environed 
by assassins, the most unscrupulous of all being his own 
father. In violation of custom, he grasped the hands of 
the Eepresentatives, and asked them to use their friendly 
offices to prevent further outrage and violence. He was 
anxious that the Kun-ren-tai should be replaced by Japanese, 
troops. On the same afternoon the Foreign Eepresentatives 
met at the Japanese Legation to hear Viscount Miura's 
explanation of circumstances in which his countrymen 
were so seriously implicated. 

Three days after the events in the Palace, and while 
the King and the general public believed the Queen to^be 
alive, a so-called Boyal Edict, a more infamous outrage on 



xxra OUTRAGE ON THE QUEEN 69 

the Queen .even than her brutal assassmation, was published 
in the Official Gazette. The King on being asked to sign it 
refused, and said he would have his hands cut oflF rather, 
but it appeared as his decree, and bore the signatures of 
the Minister of the Household, the Prime Minister, and 
six other members of the Cabinet. 



ROYAL EDICT 

It is now thirty-two years since We ascended the throne, but 
Our ruling influence has not extended wide. The Queen Min 
introduced her relatives to the Court and placed them about Our 
person, whereby she made dull Our senses, exposed the people to 
extortion, put Our Government in disorder, selling offices and titles. 
Hence tyranny prevailed all over the country and robbers arose in 
all quarters. Under these circumstances the foundation of Our 
dynasty was in imminent peril. We knew the extreme of her 
wickedness, but could not dismiss and punish her because of help- 
lessness and fear of her party. 

We desire to stop and suppress her influence. In the twelfth 
moon of last year we took an oath at Our Ancestral Shrine that the 
Queen and her relatives and Ours should never again be allowed to 
interfere in State affairs. We hoped this would lead the Min 
faction to mend their ways. But the Queen did not give up her 
wickedness, but with her party aided a crowd of low fellows to rise 
up about Us and so managed as to prevent the Ministers of State 
£rom consulting Us. Moreover, they have forged Our signature to 
a decree to disband Our loyal soldiers, thereby instigating and 
raising a disturbance, and when it occurred she escaped as in the 
Im year. We have endeavoured to discover her whereabouts, 
but as she does not come forth and appear We are convinced that 
she is not only unfitted and unworthy of the Queen's rank, but also 
that her guilt is excessive and brimful. Therefore with her We 
may not succeed to the glory of the Royal Ancestry. So We hereby 



70 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap. 

depose her from the rank of Queen and reduce her to the level of 
the lowest class. 
Signed by 

Yi Chai-mton, Minister of the Royal Household 

Kim Hong-ohip, Prime Minister. 

Km YuN-siK, Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

Pak Chong-yano, Minister of Home Affairs. 

Shim Sanq-hun, Minister of Finance. 

Cho Hbui-yon, Minister of War. 

So KwANG-POM, Minister of Justice. 

So KwANG-POM, Minister of Education. 

Chong Pyong-ha, Vice-Minister of Agriculture and 
Commerce. 

On the day following the issue of this fraudulent and 
infamous edict, another appeared in which Her Majesty, 
out of pity for the Crown Prince and as a reward for his 
deep devotion to his father, was "raised" by the King to 
the rank of " Concubine of the First Order"! 

The diplomats were harassed and anxious, and met 
constantly to discuss the situation. Of course the state 
of extreme tension was not caused solely by " happenings " 
in Korea and their local consequences. For behind this 
well-executed plot, and the diabolical murder of a defence- 
less woman, lay a terrible suspicion, which gained in 
strength every hour during the first few days after the 
tragedy till it intensified into a certainty, of which people 
spoke as in cipher, by hints alone, that other brains than 
Korean planned the plot, that other than Korean hands 
took the lives that were taken, that the sentries who 
guarded the King's apartments while the deed of blood 
was being perpetrated wore other than Korean uniforms, 
and that other than Korean bayonets gleamed in the 
shadow of the Palace walL 



xxm THE CONSPIRATORS ACQUITTED 71 

People spoke their suspicions cautiously, though 
the evidence of General Dye and of Mr. Sabatin pointed 
unmistakably in one direction. So early as the day 
after the affair, the question which emerged was, "Is 
Viscount General Miura criminally implicated or not ? " 
It is needless to go into particulars on this subject. Ten ^ 
days after the tragedy at the Palace, the Japanese Govern- ^ 
ment, which was soon proved innocent of any compUcity 
in the affair, recalled and arrested Viscount Miura, 
Sugimura, and Okamote, Adviser to the Korean War 
Department, who, some months later, along with forty-five 
others, were placed on their trial before the Japanese 
Court of First Instance at Hiroshima, and were acquitted 
on the technical ground that there was "no sufficient 
evidence te prove that any of the accused actually 
committed the crime originally meditated by them," this 
crime, according to the judgment, being that two of the 
accused, " at the instigation of Miura, dbcidbd to 
MT7BDEB THE QuEEN, and took steps by collecting accom- 
plices . . . more than ten others were directed by these 
two persons to do away with the Queen." 

Viscount Miura was replaced by Mr. Komura, an able ' 
diplomatist, and shortly afterwards Count Inouye arrived, 
bearing the condolences of the Emperor of Japan to the 
unfortunate Korean King. A heavier blow to Japanese 
prestige and position as the leader of civilisation in the 
East could not have been struck, and the Covemment 
continues to deserve our sympathy on the occasion. For 
when the disavowal is forgotten, it will always be remem- " 
bered that the murderous plot was arranged in the 
Japanese Legation, and that of the Japanese dressed as 



72 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap. 

civilians and armed with swords and pistols, who were 
directly engaged in the outrages committed in the Palace, 

— some were advisers to the Korean Government and in its 
pay, and others were Japanese policemen connected with 
the Japanese Legation — sixty persons in all, including 
those known as SosM, and exclusive of the Japanese troops. 

^ The Foreign Eepresentatives with one exception informed 
the Cabinet that until steps were taken to bring the 
assassins to justice, till the Kun-ren-tai Guard was removed 
from the Palace, and till the recently-introduced members 
of the Cabinet who were responsible for the outrages 
had been arraigned or at least removed from oflBce, they 
declined to recognise any act of the Government, or to 
accept as authentic any order issued by it in the King's 
name. The prudence of this course became apparent later. 
On 15th October, in an extra issue of the Official 
Gazette, it was announced " By Eoyal Command " that, as 
the position of Queen must not remain vacant for a day, 
proceedings for the choice of a bride were to begin at once ! 
This was only one among the many insults which were 
heaped upon the Eoyal prisoner. 

During the remainder of October and November there 

^ was no improvement in affairs. The gloom was profound. 
Instead of Eoyal receptions and entertainments, the King, 
shaken by terror and in hourly dread of poison or 
assassination, was a close prisoner in a poor part of his 
own palace, in the hands of a Cabinet chiefly composed 
of men who were the tools of the mutinous soldiers who 
were practically his gaolers, compelled to put his seal to 
edicts which he loathed, the tool of men on whose hands 
the blood of his murdered Queen was hardly dry. .Nothing 



xxra THE KING A PRISONER 73 

could be more pitiable than the condition of the King and 
Crown Prince, each dreading that the other would be 
slain before his eyes, not daring to eat of any food pre- 
pared in the Palace, dreading to be separated, even for a 
few minutes, without an adherent whom they could trust, 
and with recent memories of infinite horror as food for 
contemplation. 

General Dye, the American military adviser, an old / 
and feeble man, slept near the Palace Library, and the 
American missionaries in twos took it in turns to watch 
with him. This was the only protection which the un- 
fortunate sovereign possessed. He was also visited daily y- 
by the Foreign Eepresentatives in turns, with the double 
object of ascertaining that he was alive and assuring him 
of their sympathy and interest. Food was supplied to ^ 
him in a locked box from the Eussian or U.S. Legation, 
but so closely was he watched, that it was difficult to 
pass the key into his hand, and a hasty and very occasional 
whisper was the only communication he could succeed in 
making to these foreigners, who were his sole reliance. 
Undoubtedly from the first he hoped to escape either to ^ 
the English or Eussian Legation. At times he sobbed ^' 
piteously and shook the hands of the foreigners, who made 
no attempt to conceal the sympathy they felt for the 
always courteous and kindly sovereign. 

Entertainments among the foreigners ceased. The 
dismay was too profound and the mourning too real to 
permit even of the mild gaieties of a Seoul winter. 
Every foreign lady, and specially Mrs. Underwood, Her - 
Majesty's medical attendant, and Mme. Waeber, who 
had been an intimate friend, felt her death as a personal 



:>ja^iL i3iUmr of i^obii&]?^ m sr o B T obap. 



. GBMiihL oaattntpniQumwHfr in poIiiaGS was for- 
jauB: oL ai» oomr t^jusiioi bj tbet stony of her end. Yet 
iiam iitttL .^r iuuM^ axBtt difaarwiwdft people cfamg to the 
^lOftt oaiift siitt Jsiu. eaci^Mii a& on a iaaamat mygimaii, and 
wMbUL .uiiui|$^ Aittuug. Sjotmm^ opuuDn wih greatly con- 
;^mmMi. vc :iMn» wtiM innumemhlB aExeate^ and no one 
;3i« '^^UMO. Ji2»^ ;:ui'n might couud, buti it waa bdiaTed that 
JMK ^^iife^ «ujL e«u:iMb6 deaiie to lib^cafie the Sin^ A 
t«Aai«hMc -i '.orvigu wacships^ lay aii Chemolpo, and tibe 
'%«ittt»a» l\Xta)tfeUiu» ^ud Ameikau T^Rgnaona were gjoazded 

N^Mki^v u luoiiih aXCer die asswi^iiiitaon of the Qoeen, 

»4L^ >%aJL\^ ail hope ot htu' ot»i2ape had been abandoned, the 

.vav;.iuv;ii .u' uuug;s> \va^ so c^^erioiu^ under the rule of the 

m'v> ^*ui>iu«;i> oiiai au aiteiupt waii^ made by the Foreign 

s^ic<^vuiauvc;;> lo itu'iuiutikoe it by urging on Count Inouye 

^iiim^iu ih^ Lvim^-vtuurCOfi^ and ocei^y the Palace with 
-:i^\utv\sv' uoopc^ uuiil ihe loyaL aoidiflra had been drilled 
\\HiK> ui cihcnouc^ ou which cbe King mi^t rely for his 
lyic^v^iv^^ suioc^. It will bit :5^en firom this proposal how 
w'lu^'l.oivxlj' ihu Jap«uM($^ Government was exonerated 
iu^u hl^mc b) iho dipIouMUti agents of the Great Powers. 

1 iw^ pavpoci4jJ w«u^ uo( nM.viY^ with cordial alacrity by 
^ uuia luouvv\ who t)il^ thac the step of an armed reoccu- 
^sm^u^ o( iho hUas,'v' by the Japanese, though with the 
v>Uju\'i oi .^ivcuiut^ Uh> Kiugs safety, would be liable to 
.vuivnui luuivviui^AUvUotu, and might bring about very grave 

• ^atipiiv^uoua^ SiK'h au idea was only to be entertained 
1 1 U|\ui i\H.-viN%>d a di(!ttiuct mandate firom the Powers. 
I h.i icli>i;ia^h \\aA a^i u> work, a due amount of consent to 
I Up vi i«%ii^\>Auvu4& w«^ obluiued, and when I left Seoul on a 



xxm JAPAN DECLINED TO INTERVENE 75 

northern journey on November 7th, it was in the fall 
belief that on reaching Phyong-yang I should find a 
telegram announcing that this serious aofwp iHtaJt had been 
successfully accomplished in the presence of the Foreign 
Eepresentatives. Japan, however, did not undertake the 
task, though urge^ to do so both by Count Inouye and Mr. 
Komura, the new Eepresentative, and the Kun-rt^-tai 
remained in power, and the King a prisoner. Had the 
recommendation of the Foreign Eepresentatives, among 
whom the Bussian Eepresentative was the most emphatic 
in urging the interference of Japan, been adopted, it is 
more than probable that the recent predominance of 
Eussian influence in Korea would have been avoided. It 
is only fair to the Eussian Government to state that it gave 
a distinct mandate to the Japanese to disarm the Kun- 
ren-tai and take charge of the King. The Japanese 
Grovemment declined, and therefore is alone responsible . ^ / 
for Eussia's subsequent intervention. 

During November the dissatisfaction throughout Korea 
with the measures which were taken and proposed increased, 
and the position became so strained, owing to the 
demand of the Foreign Eepresentatives and of all classes 
of Koreans that the occurrences of the 8th of October 
must be investigated, and that the fiction of the Queen 
being in hiding should be abandoned, that the Cabinet 
unwillingly recognised that something must be done. 
So on 26th November the Foreign Eepresentatives were 
invited by the King to the Palace, and the Prime Minister, 
in presence of His Majesty, who was profoundly agitated, 
produced a decree bearing the King's signature, dismissing 
the special nominees of the mutineers, the Ministers of 



.f 



»., 



76 A DARK CHAPTER OF KOREAN HISTORY chap. 

War and Police, declaring that the so-called Edict degrad- 
ing the Queen was set aside and treated as void from the 

— beginning, and that she was reinstated in her former 
honours ; that the occurrences of the 8th October were to 
be investigated by the Department of Justice, and that 
the guilty persons were to be tried and punished. The 
death of Her Majesty was announced at the same 
time. 

At the conclusion of this audience, Mr. Sill, the United 
States Minister, expressed to the King " his profound satis- 
faction with the announcement.*' Mr. Hillier followed 
by " congratulating His Majesty on these satisfactory steps, 
and hoped it would be the beginning of a time of peace 
and tranquillity, and relieve His Majesty from much 
anxiety." These good wishes were cordially endorsed by 
his colleagues. 

The measures proposed by the King to reassert his lost 
authority and punish the conspirators promised very weU, 
"^ -J3ut were rendered abortive by a " loyal plot," which was 
formed by the Old Palace Guard and a number of Koreans, 
some of them by no means insignificant men. It had for its 
object the liberation of the sovereign and the substitution 
of loyal troops for the Kun-ren-tai, Though it ended in 
a fiasco two nights after this hopeful interview, its execu- 
tion having been frustrated by premature disclosures, its 
results were disastrous, for it involved a number of pro- 
minent men, created grave suspicions, raised up a feeling 
of antagonism to foreigners, some of whom (American 
missionaries) were believed to be cognisant of the plot, if 
not actually accessories, and brought about a general con- 

— fusion, from which, when 1 left Korea five weeks later, there 



XXIII THE SITUATION GREW WORSE 77 

was no prospect of escape. The King was a closer prisoner 
than ever; those surrounding him grew familiar and 
insolent ; he lived in dread of assassination ; and he had 
no more intercourse with foreigners, except with those 
who had an official right to enter the Palace, which they 
became increasingly unwilling to exercise. 

It was with much regret that I left Seoul for a journey 
in the interior at this most exciting time, when every day 
brought fresh events and rumours, and a cowp d'itat of 
great importance was believed to be impending ; but I had 
very little time at my disposal before proceeding to Western 
China on a long-planned journey. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

MR. YI HAE IN — KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS 

After the interpreter difficulty had appeared as before insur- 
mountable, I was provided with one who acquitted himself 
to perfection, and through whose good offices I came much 
nearer to the people than if I had been accompanied by a 
foreigner. He spoke English remarkably well, was always 
bright, courteous, intelligent, and good-natured ; he had a 
keen sense of the ludicrous, and I owe much of the 
pleasure, as well as the interest, of my journey to his 
companionship. Mr. Hillier equipped me with Im, a 
soldier of the Legation Guard, as my servant. He had 
attended me on photographing expeditions on a former 
visit, and on the journey I found him capable, faithful, 
quick, and full of " go," — so valuable and efficient, indeed, 
as to take the shine out of any subsequent attendant. 
With these, a passport, and a kwan-ja or letter from the 
Korean Foreign Office commending me to official help 
(never used), my journey was made under the best possible 
auspices. 

The day before I left was spent in making acquaintance 
with Mr. Yi Hak In, receiving farewell visits from many 



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CHAP. XXIV THE AUTHOR'S OUTFIT 79 

kind and helpful friends, looking over the backs and tackle 
of the ponies I had engaged for the journey, and in arrang- 
ing a photographic outfit. Im was taught to make curry, 
an accomplishment in which he soon excelled, and I had 
no other cooking done on the journey. For the benefit of 
future travellers I will mention that my equipment con- 
sisted of a camp-bed and bedding, candles, a large, strong, 
doubly-oiled sheet, a folding chair, a kettle, two pots, a 
cup and two plates of enamelled iron, some tea which 
turned out musty, some flour, curry powder, and a tin of 
Edward's '' desiccated soup,'' which came back unopened ! 
To the oft-repeated question, "Did you eat Korean food ?" 
I reply. Certainly — ^pheasants, fowls, potatoes, and eggs. 
Warm winter clothing, a Japanese kurvmaya's hat (the 
best of all travelling hats), and Korean string shoes 
completed my outfit, and I never needed anything I had 
not got ! 

The start on 7th November was managed in good time, 
without any of the usual delays, and I may say at once 
that the majpUy the bugbear and torment of travellers 
usually, never gave the slightest trouble. Though engaged 
by the day, they were ready to make long day's journeys, 
were always willing and helpful, and a month later 
we parted excellent friends. As this is my second 
&yourable experience, I am inclined to think that 
Korean mapu are a maligned class. For each pony 
and man, the food of both being included, I paid $1, 
about 2s., per day when travelling, and half that sum 
when halting. Mr. Yi had two ponies, I two baggs^e 
animals, on one of which Im rode, and a saddle pony, ix, 
a pack pony equipped with my side-saddle for the occasion. 



80 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap. 

Starting from the English Legation and the Customs 
buildings, we left the city by the West Gate, and passing 
the stone stumps which up till lately supported the carved 
and coloured roof under which generations of Korean kings 
after their accession met the Chinese envoys who came in 
great state to invest them with Korean sovereignty, and 
through the narrow and rugged defile known as the Peking 
Pass, we left the unique capital and its lofty clambering 
wall out of sight. The day was splendid even for a Korean 
autumn, and the frightful black pinnacles, serrated ridges, 
and fleiming corrugations of Puk Han on the right of the 
road were atmospherically idealised into perfect beauty. 
For several miles the road was thronged with bulls loaded 
with faggots, rice, and pine brush, for the supply of the 
daily necessities of the city; then, except when passing 
through the villages, it became solitary enough, except for 
an occasional group of long-sworded Japanese travellers, 
or baggage ponies in charge of Japanese soldiers. 

The road as far as Pa Ju lies through pretty country, 
small valleys either terraced for rice, which was lying out 
to dry on the dykes, or growing barley, wheat, millet, and 
cotton, surrounded by low but shapely hills, denuded of 
everything but oak and pine scrub, but with folds in which 
the Pinus sinensis grew in dark clumps, lighted up by the 
vanishing scarlet of the maple and the glowing crimson of 
the Ampelopsis Veitchii. 

On the lower slopes, and usuaUy in close proximity to 
the timber, are numerous villages, their groups of deep- 
eaved, brown-thatched roofs, on which scarlet capsicums 
were laid out to dry, looking pretty enough as adjuncts to 
landscapes which on the whole lack life and emphasis. 



XXIV A BONE OF CONTENTION 81 

The villages through which the road passes were seen at 
their best, for the roadway, serving for the village threshing- 
tloor^ was daily swept for the threshing of rice and millet, 
the passage of travellers being a secondary consideration ; 
everything was dry, and the white clothes of the people 
were consequently at their cleanliest. 

At noon we reached Ko-yang, a poor place of 300 
hovels, with ruinous official buildings of some size, once 
handsome. At this, and every other magistracy up to 
Phyong-yang, from 20 to 30 Japanese soldiers were 
quartered in the yamens. The people hated them with a 
hatred which is the legacy of three centuries, but could 
not allege anything against them, admitting that they paid 
for all they got, molested no one, and were seldom seen 
outside the yamen gates. There the mapu halted for two 
hours to give their ponies and themselves a feed. This 
mid-day halt is one bone of contention between travellers 
and themselves. No amount of hunting and worrying 
them shortens the halt by more than ten minutes, and I 
preferred peace of spirit, only insisting that when the 
road admitted of it, as it frequently did, they should 
travel 12 /{, or about three and three-quarter miles, an 
hour. At Ko-yang I began the custom of giving the land- 
lord of the inn at which I halted 100 cash for the room in 
which I rested, which gave great satisfaction. I had my 
mattress laid upon the hot floor, and as Im, by instinct, 
secured privacy for me by fastening up mats and curtains 
over the paper walls and doors, these mid-day halts were 
very pleasant. Almost every house in these roadside 
villages and small towns has a low table of such food as 
Koreans love laid out under the eaves. 

VOL. II G 



84 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap. 

notice. When a man or woman falls ill, the mu-tang or 
sorceress is called in to exorcise the spirit which has 
caused the illness. When this fails and death becomes 
imminent, in the case of a man no women are allowed to 
remain in the room but his nearest female relations, and 
in that of a woman all men must withdraw except her 
husband, father, and brother. After death, the body, 
specially at the joints, is shampooed, and when it has been 
made flexible it is covered with a clean sheet and laid for 
three days on a board, on which seven stars are painted. 
This board is eventually burned at the grave. The " Star 
Board," as it is called, is a euphemism for death, and is 
spoken of as we speak of " the grave." During these days 
the grave-clothes, which are of good materials in red, blue, 
and yellow colouring, are prepared. Korean custom 
enjoins that burial shall be delayed in the case of a poor 
man three days only, in that of a middle-class man nine 
days, of a nobleman or high ofl&cial three months, and in 
that of one of the Eoyal Family nine months, but this 
period may be abridged or extended at the pleasure of the 
King. 

Man is supposed to have three souls. After death one 
occupies the tablet, one the grave, and one the Unknown. 
During the passing of the spirit there is complete silence. 
The under garments of the dead are taken out by a servant, 
who waves them in the air and calls him by name, the 
relations and Mends meantime wailing loudly. After a 
time the clothes are thrown upon the roof. When the 
corpse has been temporarily dressed, it is bound so tightly 
round the chest as sometimes to break the shoulder blades, 
which is interpreted as a sign of good luck. After these 



XXIV THE TEN JUDGES 85 

last offices a table is placed outside the door, on which are 
three bowls of rice and a squash. Beside it are three pair 
of straw sandals. The rice and sandals are for the three 
sajaSf or official servants, who come to conduct one of the 
souls to the "Ten Judges." The squash is broken, the 
shoes burned, and the rice thrown away within half an 
hour after death. Pictures of the Siptai-wong or "Ten 
Judges " are to be seen in Buddhist temples in Korea. On 
a man's death one of his souls is seized by their servants 
and carried to the Unknown, where these Judges, who 
through their spies are kept well informed as to human 
deeds, sentence it accordingly, either to " a good place " or 
to one of the manifold hells. The influence of Buddhism 
doubtless maintains the observance of this singular custom, 
even where the idea of its significance is lost or discredited. 

The coffin is oblong. Where interment is delayed, it is 
hermetically sealed with several coats of lacquer. Until 
the funeral there is wailing daily in the dead man*s house 
at the three hours of meals. Next the geomancer is con- 
sulted about the site for the grave, and receives a fee 
heavy in proportion to the means of the family. He is 
believed from long study to have become acquainted with 
all the good and bad influences which are said to reside in 
the ground. A fortunate site brings rank, wealth, and 
many sons to the sons and grandsons of the deceased, and 
should be, if possible, on the southerly slope of a hill. He 
also chooses an auspicious day for the burial. 

In the case of a rich man, the grave with a stone altar 
in front of it is prepared beforehand, in that of a poor man 
not till the procession arrives. The coffin is placed in a 
gaily-decorated hearse, and with wailing, music, singing, 



86 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap. 

wine, food, and if in the evening, with many coloured 
lanterns, the cortdge proceeds to the grave. A widow may 
accompany her husband's corpse in a closed chair, though 
this appears unusual, but the mourners are all men in 
immense hats, which conceal , their faces, and sackcloth 
clothing. 

After the burial and the making of the circular mound 
over the cofl&n, a libation of wine is poured out and the 
company proceeds to sacrifice and to feast. Offerings of 
wine and dried fish are placed on the stone altar in front 
of the grave if it has been erected, or on small tables. 
The relatives, facing these and the grave, make five pros- 
trations, and a formula wishing peace to the spirit which 
is to dwell there is repeated. Behind the grave similar 
offerings and prostrations are made to the mountain spirit, 
who presides over it, and who is the host of the soul com- 
mitted to his care. The wine is thrown away, and the fish 
bestowed upon the servants. It will be observed that no 
priest has any part in the ceremonies connected with 
death and burial, and that two souls have now been 
disposed of — one to the judgment of the Unknown, and 
the other to the keeping of the mountain spirit. 

A chair is invariably carried in a funeral procession 
containing the memorial, or, as we say, the "ancestral 
tablet " of the deceased, a strip of white wood, bearing the 
family name, set in a socket. A part of the inscription on 
this is written at the house, and it is completed at the 
grave. It is carried back with exactly the same style and 
attendance that the dead man would have had had he 
been living, for the third soul is supposed to return to the 
house with the mourners, and to take up its abode in the 



Kiv THE CLOSING DRAMA 87 

tablet, which is placed in a vacant room and raised on a 
black lacquer chair with a black lacquer table before it, on 
which renewed offerings are made of bread, wine, cooked 
meat, and vermicelli soup, the spirit being supposed to 
regale itself with their odours. The mourners again 
prostrate themselves five times, after which they eat the 
offerings in an adjoining room. It is customary for friends 
to strew the route of the procession with paper money. 

In the period between the death and the interment 
silence is observed in the house of mourning, and only 
those visitors are received who come to condole with the 
family and speak of the virtues of the departed. It is 
believed that conversation on any ordinary topic will 
cause the corpse to shake in the coffin and show other 
symptoms of unrest. For the same reason the servants 
are very particular in watching the cats of the household 
if there are any, but cats are not in favour in Korea. 
It is terribly unlucky for a cat to jump over a corpse. It 
may even cause it to stand upright. After the deceased 
has been carried out of the house, two or three mu-tang or 
sorceresses enter it with musical instruments and the 
other paraphernalia of their profession. After a time one 
becomes "inspired" by the spirit of fche dead man, and 
accurately impersonates him, even to his small tricks of 
manner, movement, and speech. She gives a narrative of 
his life in the first person singular, if he were a bad 
man confessing his misdeeds, which may have been un- 
suspected by his neighbours, and if he were a good 
man, narrating his virtues with becoming modesty. At 
the end she bows, takes a solemn farewell of those present, 
and retires. 



88 KOREAN BURIAL CUSTOMS chap. 

After the tablet has been removed to the ancestral 
temple, and the period of mourning is over, ineals are 
offered in the shrine once every month, and also on the 
anniversary of each death, all the descendants assembling, 
and these observances extend backwards to the ancestprs 
of five generations. Thus it is a very costly thing to have 
many near relations and a number of ancestors, the 
expense falling on the eldest son and his heirs. A Korean 
gentleman told me that his nephew, upon whom this 
duty falls, spends more upon it than upon his household 
expenses. 

It is not till the three years' mourning for a father has 
expired that his tablet is removed to the ancestral temple 
which rich men have near their houses. During the period 
of mourning it is kept in a vacant room, usually in the 
women's apartments. A poor man puts it in a box on one 
side of his room, and when he worships his other ancestors, 
strips of paper with their names upon them are pasted on 
the mud wall I have slept in rooms in which the tablet 
lay smothered in dust on one of the cross-beams. Common 
people only worship for their ancestors of three generations. 
The anniversary of a father's death is kept with much 
ceremony for three years. On the previous night sacrifice 
is offered before the tablet, and on the following day 
the friends pay visits of condolence to the family, and 
eat varieties of food. During the day they visit the 
grave and offer sacrifices to the soul and the mountain 
spirit. 

A widow wears mourning all her life. If she has no 
son she acts the part of a son in performing the ancestral 
rites for her husband. It has not been correct for widows 



XXIV THE KOREAN WIDOW 89 

to remaiTy. If, howevei', a widow inherits property she 
occasionally marries to rid herself of importunities, in 
which case she is usually robbed and deserted. 

The custom of tolerating the remarriage of widows 
has, however, lately been changed into the right of 
remarriage. 



CHAPTEK XXV 



FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO 



It grew dark before we reached Pa Ju, and the mapu 
were in great terror of tigers and robbers. It is unpleasant 
to reach a Korean inn after nightfall, for there are no lights 
by which to unload the baggage, and noise and confusion 
prevail. 

When the traveller arrives a man rushes in with a 
brush, stirs up the dust and vermin, and sometimes puts 
down a coarse mat. Experience has taught me that an 
oiled sheet is a better protection against vermin than a 
pony -load of insect powder. I made much use of the 
tripod of my camera. It served as a candle -stand, a 
barometer -suspender, and an arrangement on which to 
hang my clothes at night out of harm's way. In two 
hours after arrival my food was ready, after which Mr. 
Yi came in to talk over the day, to plan the morrow, to 
enlighten me on Korean customs, and to interpret my 
orders to the faithful Ini, and by 8.30 I was asleep ! 

After leaving Pa Ju the country is extremely pretty, 
and one of the most picturesque views in Korea is from 
the height overlooking the romantically-situated village of 



CHAP. XXV KOREAN BRIDGES 91 

Im-jin, clustering along both sides of a ravine, which 
terminates on the broad Im-jin Gang, a tributary of the 
Han, in two steep rocky bluffs, sprinkled with the Piwus 
sinensis, the two being connected by a fine, double-roofed 
granite Chinese gateway, inscribed " Gate for the tranquil- 
lisation of the West." The road passing down the village 
street reaches the water's edge through this relic, one of 
three or four similar barriers on this high-road to China. 
The Im-jin Gang, there 343 yards broad, has shallow water 
and a flat sandy shore on its north side, but a range of 
high bluffs, crowned with extensive old defensive works, 
lines the south side, the gateway being the only break for 
many miles. Below these the river is a deep green stream, 
navigable for craft of 14 tons for 40 miles from its mouth. 
There was a still, faintly blue atmosphere, and the sails of 
boats passing dreamily into the mountains over the silver 
water had a most artistic eflect. 

There are two Chinese bridges on that road, curved 
slabs of stone, supported on four-sided blocks of granite, 
giving one a feeling of security, even though they have 
no parapets. Korean bridges are poles laid over a river, 
with matting or brushwood covered with earth upon them, 
and are usually full of holes. These precarious structures 
had just been replaced after the summer rains. A majpu 
usually goes ahead to test their solidity. The region is 
extremely fertile, producing fine crops of rice, wheat, 
barley, millet, buckwheat, cotton, sesamum, castor oil, 
beans, maize, tobacco, capsicums, e^ plant, peas, etc. But 
Russian and American kerosene is fast displacing the 
vegetable oils for burning, and is producing the same 
revolution in village evening life which it has effected in the 



92 FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO chap. 

Western Islands of Scotland I never saw a Korean 
hamlet south of Phyong-yang, however far from the main 
road, into which kerosene had not penetrated. 

I was obliged to halt for the night when only 10 li 
from Song-do, all the more regretfully, because the people 
were unwilling to receive a foreigner, and the family 
room which I occupied, only 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet, was 
heated up to 85°, was poisoned with the smell of cakes of 
rotting beans, and was so alive with vermin of every 
description that I was obliged to suspend a curtain over 
my bed to prevent them from falling upon it. 

The next morning, in an atmosphere which idealised 
everything, we reached Song-do, or Kai-song, now the 
second city in the kingdom, once the capital of Hon-jo, one 
of the three kingdoms which united to form Korea, and 
the capital of Korea five centuries ago. A city of 60,000 
people, Ij^ng to the south of Sang-dan San, with a wall 
ten miles in circumference running irregularly over 
heights, and pierced by double-roofed gateways, with a 
peaked and splintered ridge extending from Sang-dan San 
to the north-east, its higher summits attaining altitudes 
of from 2000 to 3000 feet, it has a striking re|emblance to 
Seoul. 

The great gate is approached by an avenue of trees, 
and the road is lined with seun-tjeung-jn, monuments to 
good governors and magistrates, faithful widows, and pious 
sons. A wide street, its apparent width narrowed by two 
rows of thatched booths, divides the city. It was a scene 
of bustle, activity, and petty trade, something like a fair. 
The women wear white sheets gathered round their heads 
and nearly reaching their feet. The street was thronged 



XXV LOWLY QUARTERS 93 

with men in huge hats and very white clothing, with boy 
bridegrooms in pink garments and the quaint yellow hats 
which custom enjoins for several months after marriage, 
and with mourners dressed in sackcloth from head to foot, 
the head and shoulders concealed by peaked and scalloped 
hats, the identity being further disguised by two-handled 
sackcloth screens, held up to their eyes. In thatched 
stalls on low stands and on mats on the ground were all 
Korean necessaries and luxuries, among which were large 
quantities of English piece goods, and hacked pieces of 
beef with the blood in it, Korean killed meat being enough 
to make any one a vegetarian. Goats are killed by pulling 
them to and fro in a narrow stream, which method is said to 
destroy the rank taste of the flesh ; dogs by twirling them 
in a noose until they are unconscious, after which they 
are bled. I have already inflicted on my readers an 
account of the fate of a bullock at Korean hands. It was 
a busy, dirty, poor, mean scene under the hot sun. 

The Song-do inns are bad, and a friend of Mr. Yi 
kindly lent me a house, partly in ruins, but with two 
rooms which sheltered Tm and myself, and in this I spent 
two pleasant days in lovely weather, Mr. Yi, who was 
visiting friends, escorting me to the Song-do sights, which 
may be seen in one morning, and to pay visits in some of 
the better -class houses. My quarters, though by com- 
parison very comfortable, would not at home be considered 
fit for the housing of a better-class cow ! But Korea has 
a heavenly climate for much of the year. The squalor, 
dust, and rubbish in my compound and everywhere were 
inconceivable, though the city is rather a " well-to-do " one. 
The water-supply is atrocious, ofial and refuse of all kinds 



94 FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO chap, 

lying up to the mouths of the wells. It says something 
for the security of Korea that a foreign lady oould safely 
live in a dwelling up a lonely alley in the heart of a big 
city, with no attendant but a Korean soldier knowing not 
a word of English, who, had he been so minded, might 
have cut my throat and decamped with my money, of 
which he knew the whereabouts, neither my door nor the 
compound having any fastening ! 

Points of interest in a Korean city are few, and the 
ancient capital is no exception to the rule. There is a fine 
bronze bell with curiously involved dragons in one of the 
gate towers, cast five centuries ago, an archery ground 
with official pavilions on a height with a superb view, the 
Govemor*s yamen, once handsome, now ruinous, with 
Japanese sentries, a dismal temple to Confucius, and a 
showy one to the God of War. Outside the crowd and 
bustle of the city, reached by a narrow path among 
prosperous ginseng farms and persimmon -embowered 
hamlets, are the lonely remains of the palace of the Kings 
who reigned in Korea prior to the dynasty of which the 
present sovereign is the representative, and even in their 
forlornness they give the impression that the Korean 
Kings were much statelier monarchs then than now. 

The remains consist of an approach to the main plat- 
form on which the palace stood, by two subsidiary platforms, 
the first reached by a nearly obliterated set of steps. 
Four staircases 15 feet wide, of thirty steps each, lead to 
a lofty artificial platform, 14 feet high, faced with hewn 
stone in great blocks, and by rough measurement 846 feet 
in length. On the east side there are massive abutments. 
On the west the platform broadens irregularly. At the 



XXV PANAX GINSENG 95 

entrance, 80 feet wide, at the top of the steps, there are 
the bases of columns suggestive of a very stately Approach. 
The palace platform is intersected by massive stone founda- 
tions of halls and rooms, some of large area. It is backed 
by a pine -clothed knoll, and is prettily situated in an 
amphitheatre of hills. 

Song-do as a royal city, and as one of the so-called 
fortresses for the protection of the capital, still retains 
many ancient privileges. It is a bustling business town, 
and a great centre of the grain trade. It has various 
mercantile guilds with their places of business, small shops 
built round compounds with entrance gates. It makes 
wooden shoes, coarse pottery and fine matting, and imports 
paper, which it manufactures with sesamum oil into the 
oil paper for which Korea is famous, and which is made into 
cloaks, umbrellas, tobacco-pouches, and sheets for walls 
and floors. In answer to many inquiries, I learned that 
trade had improved considerably since the war, but the 
native traders now have to compete with fourteen Japanese 
shops, and to suflFer the presence of forty Japanese residents. 

I have left until the last the commodity for which 
Song-do is famous, and which is the chief source of its 
prosperity — ginseng. Panax Ginseng is, as its name im- 
ports, a " panacea." No one can be in the Far East for 
many days without hearing of this root and its virtues. 
No drug in the British Pharmacopoeia rivals with us the 
estimation in which this is held by the Chinese. It is a 
tonic, a febrifuge, a stomachic, the very elixir of life, taken 
spasmodically or regularly in Chinese wine by most Chinese 
who can afford it. It is one of the most valuable articles 
which Korea exports, and one great source of its revenue. 



96 FROM PA JU TO SONG-DO chap. 

In the steamer in which I left Chemulpo there was a 
consignment of it worth $140,000. But, valuable as 
the cultivated root is, it is nothing to the value of the 
wild, which grows in Northern Korea, a single specimen of 
which has been sold for £40 ! It is chiefly found in the 
Kang-ge Mountains; but it is rare, and the search so 
often ends in failure, that the common people credit it 
with magical properties, and believe that only men of pure 
lives can find it. 

The ginseng season was at its height. People talked, 
thought, and dreamed ginseng, for the risks of its six or 
seven years' growth were over, and the root was actually 
in the factory. I went to several ginseng farms, and also 
saw the difiPerent stages of the manufsiCturing process, and 
received the same impression as in Siberia, that if industry 
were lucrative, and the Korean were sure of his earnings, 
he would be an industrious and even a thrifty person. 

All round Song-do are carefully-fenced farms on which 
ginseng is grown with great care and exquisite neatness on 
beds 18 inches wide, 2 feet high, and neatly bordered with 
slates. It is sown in April, transplanted in the following 
spring, and again in three years into specially-prepared 
ground, not recently cultivated, and which has not been 
used for ginseng-culture for seven years. Up to the second 
year the plant has only two leaves. In the fourth year it 
is six inches high, with four leaves standing out at right 
angles from the stalk. It reaches maturity in the sixth or 
seventh year. During its growth it is sheltered from both 
wind and sun by well-made reed roofs with blinds, which 
are raised or lowered as may be required. When the root 
is taken up it is known as " white ginseng," and is bought 



XXV A GINSENG FACTOEY 97 

hj meichants, who get it " maniifactaied/' about 3^ catties 
of the fresh root making one eaUie of red" or commercial 
ginseng. The grower pays a tax of 20 cents per eaUie, 
and the merchant 16 dollars a caitie for the root as received 
from the manufacturer. 

The annual time of manufacture depends on orders 
given bj the Gk)vemment. The growers and merchants 
make the most profit when the date is earlj. Only two 
manufacturers are licensed, and one hundred and fifty 
growera The quantity to be manufactured is also limited. 
In 1895 it was 15,000 catties of red ginseng and 3000 of 
" beards." The terms " beards " and " tails " are used to 
denote different parts of the root, which eventually has a 
grotesque resemblance to a headless man ! It is possible 
that this likeness is the source of some of the almost 
miraculous virtues which are attributed to it Everything 
about the factories is scrupulously clean, and would do 
credit to European management. The row of houses used 
by what we should call the excisemen are well built and 
comfortable. There are two officials sent from Seoul by 
the Agricultural Department for the " season," with four 
policemen and two attendants, whose expenses are paid 
by the manufacturers, and each step of the manufacture 
and the egress of the workmen are careMly watched. 
Mr. Yi was sent by the Customs to make special inquiries 
in connection with the revenue derived. 

Ginsengis steamed for twenty-four hours in laige earthen 
jars over iron pots built into furnaces, and is then par- 
tially dried in a room kept at a high temperature by 
charcoal The final drying is effected by exposing the roots 
in elevated flat baskets to the rays of the bright winter sun. 

VOL. II H 



98 FROM PA JU- TO SONG-DO chap. 

The human resemblance survives these processes, but 
afterwards the " beards " and " tails/' used chiefly in Korea, 
are cut ofif, and the trunk, from 3 to 4 inches long, 
looks like a piece of clouded amber. These trunks are 
carefully picked over, and being classified according to 
size, are neatly packed in small oblong baskets containing 
about five catties each, twelve or fourteen of these being 
packed in a basket, which is waterproofed and matted, and 
stamped and sealed by the Agricultural Department as 
ready for exportation. A basket, according to quality, is 
worth from $14,000 to $20,000! In a good season 
the grower makes about fifteen times his outlay. 
Ginseng was a Eoyal monopoly, but times have changed. 
This medicine, which has such a high and apparently 
partially deserved reputation throughout the Far East, 
does not suit Europeans, and is of littl6 account with 
European doctors. 

A Post Ofl&ce had been established in Song-do under 
Korean management, and I not only received but sent a 
letter, which reached its destination safely ! Buddhism still 
prevails to some extent in this city, and large sums are 
expended upon the services of sorcerers. In Song-do I saw, 
what very rarely may be seen in Seoul and elsewhere, a 
" Eed Door." These are a very high honour reserved for 
rare instances of faithfulness in widows, loyalty in 
subjects, and piety in sons. When a widow (almost in- 
variably of the upper class) weeps ceaselessly for her 
husband, maintains the deepest seclusion, attends loyally 
to her father- and mother-in-law, and spends her time in 
pious deeds, the people of the neighbourhood, proud of her 
virtues, represent them to the Governor of the province, 



XXV THE "RED DOOR" 99 

who conveys their recommendation to the King, with 
whom it rests to confer the " Eed Door." The distinction 
is also given to the family of an eminently loyal subject, 
who has given his life for the King's life. 

The case of a son whose father has reached a great 
age is somewhat different, and the honour is more emphatic 
still. His filial virtue is shown by such methods as 
these. He goes every morning to his father's apartments, 
asks him how his health is, how he has slept, what he 
has eaten for breakfast, and how he enjoyed the meal — if 
he has any fancies for dinner, and if he shall go to the 
market and buy him some tai (the best fish in Korea), and 
if he shall come back and assist him to take a walk ? 
The reader will observe how extremely material the pious 
son's inquiries are. Such assiduity continued during a 
course of years, on being represented to the King, may 
receive the coveted red portal In former days, these 
matters used to be referred to the Suzerain, the Emperor 
of China. In Song-do, as in the villages, a straw fringe is 
frequently to be seen stretched across a door, either plain 
or with bits of charcoal knotted into it. The former 
denotes the birth of a girl, the latter that of a boy. A 
girl is not specially welcome, nor is the occasion one of 
festivity, but neither is it, as in some countries, regarded 
as a calamity, although, if it be a firstborn, the friends of 
the father are apt to write letters of condolence to him, 
with the consoling suggestion that " the next will be a 
boy." 



CHAPTER XXVI 

FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG 

Glorious weather favoured my departure from the ancient 
Korean capital. The day's journey lay through pretty 
country, small valleys, and picturesquely-shaped hills, on 
which the vegetation, whatever it was,had turned to a purple 
as rich as the English heather blossom, while the blue 
gloom of the pines emphasised the flaming reds of the 
dying leafage. The villages were few and small, and culti- 
vation was altogether confined to the valleys. Pheasants 
were so abundant that the mapu pelted them out of 
the cover by the roadside, and wild ducks abounded on 
every stream. The one really fine view of the day is from 
the crest of a hill just beyond 0-hung-suk Ju, where there 
is a second defensive gate, with a ruinous wall carried along 
a ridge for some distance on either side. The masonry 
and the gate-house are fine, and the view down the wild 
valley beyond with its rich autumn colouring was almost 
grand. It was evident that officials were expected, for 
the road was being repaired everywhere — that is, spadefuls 
of soft soil were being taken from the banks and road- 
sides, and were being thrown into the ruts and holes to 



CHAP. XXVI TEBRIBLE WEATHEB 101 

deepen the quagmire which the next rain would produce. 
From four to seven men were working at each spade ! A 
great part of the male population had turned out ; for when 
an official of rank is to travel, every family in the district 
must provide one male member or a substitute to put the 
road in order. The repairs of the roads and bridges 
devolve entirely on the country people. 

The following day brought a change of weather. My 
room had no hot floor and the mercury at daybreak was 
only 20** ! When we started, a strong north-wester was 
blovTing, which increased to a gale by noon, the same fierce 
gale in which at Chemulpo H.M.S. Edgar lost her boat 
with forty-seven men. My pony and I would have been 
blown over a wretched bridge had not four men linked 
themselves together to support us; and later, on the 
top of a precipice above a river, a gust came with such 
force that the animals refused to face it, and one of them 
was as nearly lost as possible. By noon it was impossible 
to sit on our horses, and we fought the storm on foot. When 
Im lifted me from my pony I fell down, and it took several 
men shouting with laughter to set me on my feet again. 
When Mr. Yi and I spoke to each other, our voices had 
a bobbery clatter, and sentences broke ofif half-way in an 
inane giggle. I felt as if there were hardly another 
" shot in the locker,'' but if a traveller " says die," the men 
lose all heart, so I summoned up all my pluck, took a 
photograph after the noon halt, and walked on at a good 
pace. 

But the wind, with the mercury at 26**, was awful, 
gripping the heart and benumbing the brain. I have not 
felt anything like it since I encountered the " devil wind " 



102 FROM SONG-BO TO PHYC)NG-YANG chap. 

on the Zagros heights in Persia. At some distance from 
our destination Mr. Yi, Im, and the mapu begged me to 
halt, as they could no longer face it, though the accommo- 
dation for man and beast at Tol Maru, where we put up, 
was the worst imaginable, and the large village the filthiest, 
most squalid, and most absolutely poverty-stricken place I 
saw in that land of squalor. The horses were crowded 
together, and their baffled attempts at fighting were only 
less hideous than the shouts and yells of the mapu, who 
were constantly being roused out of a sound sleep to 
separate them. 

My room was 8 feet by 6, and much occupied by the 
chattels of the people, besides being alive with cockroaches 
and other forms of horrid life. The dirt and discomfort 
in which the peasant Koreans live are incredible. 

An uninteresting tract of country succeeded, and some 
time was occupied in threading long treeless valleys, cut 
up by stony beds of streams, margined by sandy flats, in- 
undated in summer, and then covered chiefly with withered 
reeds, asters, and artemisia, a belated aster every now 
and then displaying its untimely mauve blossom. All 
these and the dry grasses and weeds of the hill-sides were 
being cut and stacked for fuel, even brushwood having dis- 
appeared. This work is done by small boys, who carry 
their loads on wooden saddles suited to their size. That 
region is very thinly peopled, only a few hamlets of 
squalid hovels being scattered over it, and cultivation was 
rare and untidy, except in one fine agricultural valley 
where wheat and barley were springing. No animals, 
except a breed of pigs not larger than English terriera, 
were to be seen. 



XXVI A BOMICILIARY VISIT 103 

One of the most dismal and squalid " towns " on this 
route is Shur-hung, a long rambling viUage of nearly 5000 
souls, and a magistracy, built along the refuse -covered 
bank of a bright, shallow stream. As if the Crown 
official were the upas tree, the town with a yaraen is always 
more forlorn than any other. In Shur-hung the large and 
once handsome yamefti buildings are all but in ruins, and 
so is the Confucian temple, visited periodically, as all such 
temples are, by the magistrate, who bows before the tablet 
of the « most holy teacher " and offers an animal in sacrifice. 

The Korean official is the vampire which sucks the 
life-blood of the people. We had crossed the Tao-jol, the 
boundary between the provinces of Kyong-hwi and 
Hwang-hai, and were then in the latter. Most officials 
of any standing live in Seoul for pleasure and society, 
leaving subordinates in charge, and as their tenure of 
office is very brief, they regard the people within their 
jurisdiction rather with reference to their squeezeableness 
than to their capacity for improvement. 

Forty Japanese soldiers found a dmughty shelter 
within the tumble-down buildings of the yamen. As I 
walked down the street one of them touched me on the 
shoulder, asking my nationality, whence I came, and 
whither I was going, not quite politely, I thought. When 
I reached my room a dozen of them came and gradually 
closed round my door, which I could not shut, standing 
almost within it. A trim sergeant raised his cap to me, 
and passing on to Mr. Yi's room, asked him where I came 
from and whither I was going, and on hearing, replied, " All 
right," raised his cap to me, and departed, withdrawing his 
men with him. This was one of several domiciliary visits. 



KRUM SONG-DO TO PHYONGYANG chap. 

ift 'Obu^ii they were usually very politely made, they 
^^^gobuad the <|uery as to the right to make them, and to 
«KH«iit Che mastership in the land belonged. There, as 
-ASbwhere, though the people hated the Japanese with an 
aifenoe hatitxi, they were obliged to admit that they were 
^ofy luiec and paid for everything they got K the 
HiAOiers had not been in European clothes, it would not 
itive occurred to me to think them rude for crowding 
.'viiiKi my door. 

A 'iay's lide through monotonous country brought us to 
?oug-sau, where we halted in the dirtiest hole I had till then 
3^eii in. As soon as my den was comfortably warm, myriads 
)i house flies, blackening the rafters, renewed a semi-torpid 
dJKisDence, dying in heaps in the soup and curry, filling 
jbo well of the candlestick with their singed bodies, and 
crawling in hundreds over my face. Next came the 
oocki'oaches in legions, large and small, torpid and active, 
followed by a great army of fleas and bugs, making life 
insupportable. To judge from the significant sounds from 
the public room, no one slept all night, and when I 
asked Mr. Yi after his welfare the next morning, he 
uttered the one word "miserable." Discomforts of this 
uatui-e, less or more, are inseparable from the Korean 
inn. 

The following day. at a large village, we came upon 
the weekly market. It is usual to inquire r^arding the 
trade of a district, and as the result of my inquiries, I 
assert that '' ti-ade ** in the onlinarv sense has no existence 
in a great part of Central and Northern Korea, t>. there is 
no exchange of commodities between one plac« and another, 
no exports, no imports by resident merchants, and no 



XXVI TRADE IN THE INTERIOR 105 

industries supplying more than a local demand. Such are 
to be found to some extent in Southern Korea, and speci- 
ally in the province of Chul-la. Apart firom Phyong-yang, 
"trade" does not exist in the region through which I 
travelled. 

Keasons for such a state of things existed in the 
debased coinage, so bulky that a pony can only carry 
£10 worth of it, the entire lack of such banking facilities 
as even in Western China render business transactions 
easy ; the general mutual distrust ; prejudices against pre- 
paring hides and working leather; caste prejudices; the 
general insecurity of earnings, ignorance absolutely incon- 
ceivable, and the existence of numerous guilds which 
possess practical monopolies. 

Under Japanese influence, however, the superb silver 
yen has made its way slowly into the interior, and instead 
of having to carry a load of cashy as on my former journey, 
or to be placed in great difficulties by the want of it, this 
large silver coin was readily taken at all the inns, although 
I did not see a single specimen of the new Korean 
coinage. 

" Trade," as I became acquainted with it, is represented 
by Japanese buyers, who visit the small towns and 
villages, buying up rice, grain, and beans, which they 
forward to the ports for shipment to Japan, and by an 
organised corporation of pusang or pedlars, one of the 
most important of the many guilds which have been 
among the curious features of Korea. 

There are no shops in villages, and few, where there 
are any, even in small towns. It is, in fact, impossible to 
buy anything except on the market-day, as no one keeps 



106 FROM SONG-DO TO PHY(JNG-YANG chap. 

any stock of anything. At the weekly market the usual 
melancholy dulness of a Korean village is exchanged for 
bustle, colour, and crowds of men. From an early hour 
in the morning the paths leading to the ofi&cially-appointed 
centre are thronged with peasants bringing in their wares 
for sale or barter, chiefly fowls in coops, pigs, straw shoes, 
straw hats, and wooden spoons, while the main road has 
its complement of merchants, i,e. pedlars, mostly fine, 
strong, well-dressed men, either carrying their heavy 
packs themselves or employing porters or bulls for the 
purpose. These men travel on regular circuits to the 
village centres, and are industrious and respectable. A 
few put-up stalls, specially those who sell silks, gauzes, 
cords for girdles, dress shoes, amber, buttons, silks in 
skeins, small mirrors, tobacco-pouches, dress combs of 
tortoise-shell for men's top-knots, tape girdles for trousers, 
boxes with mirror tops, and the like. But most of the 
articles, from which one learns a good deal about the 
necessaries and luxuries required by the Korean, are 
exposed for sale on low tables or on mats on the ground, 
the merchant giving the occupant of the house before 
which he camps a few cask for the accommodoetion. 

On such tables are sticks of pulled candy as thick as 
an arm, some of it stuffed with sesamum seeds, a sweet- 
meat sold in enormous quantities, and piece goods, shirtings 
of Japanese and English make, Victoria lawns, hempen 
cloth, Turkey-red cottons, Korean flimsy silks, dyes, chiefly 
aniline, which are sold in great quantities, together with 
safifron, indigo, and Chinese Prussian blue. On these also 
are exposed long pipes, contraband in the capital, and 
Japanese cigarettes, coming into great favour with young 



XXVI A KOREAN MARKET 107 

men and boys, with leather courier bags and lucifer 
matches from the same country, wooden combs, hairpins 
with tinsel heads, and, such is the march of ideas, purses 
for silver ! Paper, the best of the Korean manufactures, 
in its finer qualities produced in Ghul-la Do, is honoured 
by stallB. Every kind is purchasable in these markets, 
£rom the beautiful, translucent, buff, oiled paper, nearly 
equal to vellum in appearance and tenacity, used for the 
floors of middle- and upper-class houses, and the stout 
paper for covering walls, to the thin, strong film for 
writing on, and a beautiful fabric, a sort of frothy gauze, 
for wrapping up deUcate fabrics, as well as the coarse 
fibrous material, used for covering heavy packages, and 
intermediate grades, applied to every imaginable purpose, 
such as the making of string, almost all manufactured 
from the paper mulberry. 

On mats on the ground are exposed straw mats, straw 
and string shoes, flints for use with steel, black buckram 
dress hats, coarse, narrow cotton cloth of Korean manufac- 
ture, rope muzzles for horses (much needed), sweeping 
whisks, wooden saiots, and straw, reed, and bamboo hats 
in endless variety. On these also are rough iron goods, 
family cooking-pots, horse-shoes, spade-shoes, door-rings, 
nails, and carpenters' tools, when of native manufacture, 
as rough as they can be; and Korean roots and fruits, 
tasteless and untempting, great hard pears much like raw 
parsnips, chestnuts, pea-nuts, persimmons which had been 
soaked in water to take the acridity out of them, and 
gilder. There were coops of fowls and piles of pheasants, 
brought down by falcons, gorgeous birds, selling at six for a 
yen (about 4d. each), and torn and hacked pieces of bull-beef. 



108 FROM SONGHX) TO PHY5NG-YANG chap. 

One prominent feature of that special market was the 
native potterj, both coarse and brittle ware, chj, with a 
pale green glaze rudely appUed, smaU jars and bowls 
chiefly, and a coarser ware, nearly black and slightly 
iridescent, closely resembling iron. This pottery is of 
universal use among the poor for cooking-pots, water-jars, 
mfiiae-jars, receptacles for grain and pulse, and pickle-jars 
5 feet high, roomy enough to hold a man, two of which 
are a bull's load. At that season these jars were in great 
lequest, for the peasant world was occupied, the men in 
digging up a great hard white radish weighing from 2 to 
4 lbs., and the women in washing its great head of partially 
blanched leaves, which, after being laid aside in these 
jars in brine, form one great article of a Korean peasant's 
winter diet 

Umbrella hats, oiled paper, hat -covers, pounded 
capsicums, rice, peas and beans, bean curd, and other 
necessaries of Korean existence, were there, but business 
was very dull, and the crowds of people were nearly as 
quiet as the gentle bulls which stood hour after hour 
among them. Late in the afternoon, the pedlars packed 
up their wares and departed en route for the next centre, 
and a good deal of hard drinking closed the day. I have 
been thus minute in my description because the peripatetic 
merchant really represents the fashion of Korean trade, 
and the wares which are brought to market both the 
necessaries and luxuries of Korean existence. 

The reader will agree with me that, except for a 
certain amount of insight into Korean customs which 
can only be gained by mixing freely with Koreans, the 
journey from Seoul to Phyong-yang tends to monotony. 



XXVI « HILL TOWNS " 109 

though at the time Mr. Yi's brightness, intelligence, 
sense of fun, and unvarying good-nature made it very 
pleasant. Among the few features of interest on the 
road are the " Hill Towns," of which three are striking 
objects, specially one on the hill opposite to the magistracy 
of Pyeng-san, the hill -top being surrounded by a 
battlemented wall two miles in circuit, enclosing a 
tangled thicket containing a few hovels and the remains 
of some granaries. Unwalled towns are supposed to 
possess such strongholds, with stores of rice and soy^ as 
refuges in times of invasion or rebellion, but as they have 
not been required for three centuries, they are now ruin- 
ous. The one on a high hill above Sai-nam, where the 
last Chinese gate occurs, is imposing from its fine gate- 
way and the extent of ground it encloses. 

Two days before reaching Phyong-yang we crossed the 
highest pass on the road, and by a glen wooded with such 
deciduous trees, shrubs, and trailers as ash, ekeagnus, 
euonymus, hornbeam, oak, lime, Acanthopanax ricinifolia, 
actinidia with scarlet berries, clematis, Ampelopm Vdtchii, 
etc., descended to the valley of the Nam Chhon, a broad 
but shallow stream which joins the Tai-dong. On the right 
bank, where the stream, crossed by a dilapidated bridge, is 
128 yards wide, the town of Whang Ju is picturesquely 
situated, 36 li from the sea, at the base of two low fir- 
crowned hills, which terminate in cliffs above the Nam- 
chhon. 

A battlemented wall 9 K in circumference, with several 
fine towers and gateways, encloses the town, and being 
carried along the verge of the cliflf and over the downs 
and ups of the hills, has a very striking appearance. It 



110 FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

was a singularly attractive view. The Korean sky was at 
its bluest, and the winding Nam Chhon was seen in 
glimpses here and there through the broad fertile plain in 
reaches as blue, and the broken sparkle of its shallow 
waters flashed in sapphire gleams against the gray rock 
and the gray walls of the city. On the wall, and grouped 
in the handsome Water Grate, were a number of Japanese 
soldiers watching a crowd of Koreans spearing white 
fish with three-pronged forks from rafts made of two 
bundles of reeds with a cask lashed between them, and 
from the bridge the ruinous state of the walls and towers 
could not be seen. 

Whang Ju is memorable to me as being the first place 
I saw which had suffered from the ravages of recent war. 
There the Japanese came upon the Chinese, but there was 
no fighting at that point. Yet whatever happened has 
been enough to reduce a flourishing town with an estimated 
population of 30,000 souls to one of between 5000 and 
6000, and to destroy whatever prosperity it had. 

I passed through the Water Gkite into a deplorable 
scene of desolation. There were heaps of ruins, some 
blackened by fire, others where the houses had apparently 
coUapsed " all of a heap," with posts and rafters sticking 
out of it. There are large areas of nothing but this and 
streets of deserted houses, sadder yet, with doors and 
windows gone for the bivouac fires of the Japanese, and 
streets where roofless mud walls alone were standing. 
In some parts there were houses with windows gone and 
torn paper waving from their walls, and then perhaps an 
inhabited house stood solitary among the deserted or 
destroyed, emphasising the desolation, Some of the 



XXVI THE TRACK OF WAR 111 

destruction was wrought by the Chinese, some by the 
Japanese, and much resulted from the terrified flight of 
more than 20,000 of the inhabitants. 

North of Whang Ju are rich plains of productive, stone- 
less, red alluvium, extending towards the Tai-dong for 
nearly 40 miles. On these there were villages partly 
burned and partly depopulated and ruinous, and tracts of 
the superb soil had passed out of cultivation owing to the 
flight of the cultivators, and there was a total absence of 
beasts, the splendid bulls of the region having perished 
under their loads en route for Manchuria. 

It was a dreary journey that day through partially 
destroyed villages, relapsing plains, and slopes denuded of 
every stick which could be burned. There were no way- 
farers on the roads, no movement of any kind, and as it 
grew dusk the mapu were afraid of tigers and robbers, 
and we halted for the night at the wretched hamlet of 
Ko-moun Tari, where I obtained a room with delay and 
difficulty, partly owing to the unwillingness of the people 
to receive a foreigner. They had suflered enough from 
foreigners, truly ! 

The concluding day's march was through a pleasant 
country, though denuded of trees, and the approach to a 
great city was denoted by the number of villages, daemon 
shrines, and refreshment booths on the road, the increased 
traflic, and eventually, by a long avenue of stone tablets, 
some of them imder highly-decorated roofs, recording the 
virtues of Phyong-yang officials for 250 years ! 

The first view of Phyong-yong delighted me. The city 
has a magnificent situation, taken advantage of with much 
skill, and at a distance merits the epithet " imposing." It 



112 PROM SONG-DO TO PHYONQ-YANa chap. 

was a glorious afternoon. All the low ranges which girdle 
the rich plain through which the Tai-dong winds were blue 
and violet, melting into a blue haze, the crystal waters 
of the river were bluer still, brown-sailed boats drifted 
lazily with the stream, and above it the gray mass of the 
city rose into a dome of unclouded blue. 

It is built on lofty ground rising abruptly from the 
river, above which a fine wall climbs picturesquely over 
irregular, but always ascending, altitudes, till it is lost 
among the pines of a hill which overhangs the Tai-dong. 
The great double-roofed Tai-dong Mon (river gate), decor- 
ated pavilions on the walls, the massive curled roofs of 
the Govemor^s yamwa, a large Buddhist monastery and 
temple on a height, and a fine temple to the God of War, 
prominent objects from a distance, prepare one for some- 
thing quite apart from the ordinary meanness of a Korean 
city. 

Crossing the clear flashing waters of the Tai-dong with 
our ponies in a crowded ferry-boat, we found ourselves in 
the slush of the dark Water Gate, at all hours of the day 
crowded with water-carriers. There are no wells in the 
city, the reason assigned for the deficiency being that the 
walls enclose a boat-shaped area, and that the digging of 
wells would cause the boat to sink ! The water is carried 
almost entirely in American kerosene tins. I lodged at 
the house of a broker, and had nice clean rooms for myself 
and Im, quite quiet, and with a separate access from the 
street. It was truly a luxury to have roof, walls, and floor 
papered with thick oiled paper much resembling varnished 
oak, but there was no hot floor, and I had to rely for 
warmth solely on the " fire-bowL" 



XXVI A MISSION-HOUSE 113 

Taking a most diverting boy as my guide, I went out- 
side the city wall, through some farming country to a 
Korean house in a very tumble-to-pieces compound, which 
he insisted was the dwelling of the American missionaries ; 
but I only found a Korean family, and there were no traces 
of foreign occupation in glass panes let into the paper of 
the windows and doors. Nothing daunted, the boy pulled 
me through a smaller compound, opened a door, and 
pushed me into what was manifestly posing as a foreign 
room, gave me a chair, took one himself, and offered me a 
cigarette I 

I had reached the right place. It was a very rough 
Korean room, about the length and width of a N.W. 
Railway saloon carriage. It had three camp-beds, three 
chairs, a trunk for a table, and a few books and writing 
materials, as well as a few articles of male apparel 
hanging on the mud walls. I waited more than an 
hour, every attempt at depaxture being forcibly as well 
as volubly resisted by the urchin, imagining the devotion 
which could sustain educated men year after year in such 
surroundings, and then they came in hilariously, and we 
had a most pleasant evening. I shall say more of them 
later. It was a weird walk through ruins which looked 
ghostly in the starlight to my curious quarters in the 
densest part of the city by the Water Gate, where at 
intervals through the night I heard the beat of the sor- 
cerer's drum and the shrieking chant of the mu-tang. 

It may be taken for granted that every Korean winter 
day is splendid, but the following day in Phyong-yang 
was heavenly. Three Koreans called on me in the morning, 
very courteous persons, but as Mr. Yi and I had parted com- 

VOL. II I 



114 FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

pany for a time on reaching the city, the interpretation was 
feeble, and we bowed and smiled, and smiled and bowed, 
with tedious iteration, without coming to much mutual 
understanding, and I was glad when the time came 
for seeing the city and battlefield under Mr. Moflfett's 
guidance. 

On such an incomparable day everything looked at 
its very best, but also at its very worst, for the brilliant 
sunshine lit up desolations sickening to contemplate, — 
a prosperous city of 60,000 inhabitants reduced to 
decay and 15,000 — four-fifths of its houses destroyed, 
streets and alleys choked with ruins, hill -slopes 
and vales once thick with Korean crowded home- 
steads, covered with gaunt hideous remains — frag- 
ments of broken walls, kang floors, kang chimneys, 
indefinite heaps in which roofs and walls lay in un- 
picturesque confusion — and still worse, roofs and walls 
standing, but doors and windows all gone, suggesting the 
horror of human faces with their eyes put out. Every- 
where there were the same scenes, miles of them, and very 
much of the desolation was charred and blackened, shape- 
less, hideous, hopeless, under the mocking sunlight. 

Phyong-yang was not taken by assault ; there was no 
actual fighting in the city, both the Chinese who fled and 
the Japanese who occupied posed as the friends of Korea, 
and all this wreck and ruin was brought about not by 
enemies, but by those who professed to be fighting to give 
her independence and reform. It had gradually come to 
be known that the " wqjen (dwarfs) did not kfll Koreans," 
hence many had returned. Some of these unfortunate 
fugitives were picking their way among the heaps, trying 



xxvT THE RESULTS OF WAR 116 

to find indications which might lead them to the spots 
where all they knew of home once existed ; and here and 
there, where a family found their walls and roof standing, 
they put a door and window into one room and lived in 
it among the ruins of five or six. 

When the Japanese entered and found that the larger 
part of the population had fled, the soldiers tore out the 
posts and woodwork, and often used the roofs also for 
fuel, or lighted fires on house floors, leaving them burning, 
when the houses took fire and perished. They looted 
the property left by the fugitives during three weeks after 
the battle, taking even from Mr. Moflfett*s house $700 
worth, although his servant made a written protest, the 
looting being sanctioned by the presence of officers. 
Under these circumstances the prosperity of the most 
prosperous city in Korea was destroyed. If such are the 
results of war in the " green tree," what must they be in 
the " dry" ? 

During the subsequent occupation the Japanese troops 
behaved well, and all stores obtained in the town and 
neighbourhood were scrupulously paid for. Intensely as 
the people hated them, they admitted that quiet and 
good order had been preserved, and they were very 
apprehensive that on their withdrawal they would 
sufier much from the Kun-ren-tai, a regiment of Koreans 
drilled and armed by the Japanese, and these had 
already begun to rob and beat the people, and to defy 
the civil authorities. The main street on my second 
visit had assumed a bustling appearance. There 
was much building up and pulling down, for Japanese 
traders had obtained all the eligible business sites, and 



118 FltOM SONG-DO TO PHVONG-YANG chap. 

wliich the ground faUo precipitously, to rise again iii a 
knife-like ridge, the three highest points of which are 
crowned with Chinese forts. From this pavilion the 
wall, following the lie of the hill, slopes rapidly down to 




a very picturesque and narrow gate, the ChU-sivng Mim 
or Seven Star Gate, after which it trends in a north- 
westerly direction to the Potong Miki. 

In the pine wood, at the highest part of tlie angle 
formed by the wall, General Tso liad built three mud forts 
or camps with walls 10 feet high. The ground under the 



XXVI GENERAL TSCS SORTIE 119 

trees is dotted with the stone-lined cooking holes of his 
men, blackened with the smoke of their last fires. On the 
afternoon of the 15th of September 1894, General Tso and 
his force, which mustered 5000 men when it left Muk-den, 
but must have been greatly diminished by desertion and 
death, made his fatal sally, passing through the ChU- 
sung Mon and down the steep zigzag descent below it to 
the plain, meeting his death probably within 300 yards of 
the gate. The Koreans say that some of his men took up 
the body, but were shot by the Japanese while removing 
it, and that it was lost in the slaughter which ensued. 
A neat obelisk, railed round, was erected by the Japanese 
at the supposed spot, bearing on one face the inscription : — 

Tso Pao-kuei, commander-in-chief of the Feng-tien division. 
Place of death. 

And on the other — 

Killed while fighting with the Japanese troops at Phyong- 
yang. 

A graceful tribute to their ablest foe. 

General Tso's troops, demoralised by his death, sought 
refuge everywhere from the deadly fire of the Japanese, a 
part flying back to their forts within the wall, while 
many, probably blinded and desperate, rode along the pine 
woods which densely cover the broken groimd outside, by 
a path along a wide dry moat, which, three weeks later, 
when Mr. Moflfett returned, was piled with the dead bodies 
of their horses. 

In the bright moonlight night which followed that day, 
the Japanese stormed and took by assault the three 
Chinese forts on the three summits of the ridge, which 



120 FROM SOKG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

were the key of the position, enabling them to throw their 
shell into the Chinese forts and camps within the ¥ralL 
The beautiful pavilion at the angle of the wall is much 
shattered, and big fragments of shell are embedded in its 
pillars and richly-carved woodwork. So desperately 
honied was the flight of the vanquished from the last 
fort which held out, that they were mown down in 
numbers as they ran down the steep hill, falling face 
foremost with their outstretched hands clutching the 
earth. 

All was then lost, and why that doomed army, number- 
ing then perhaps 12,000 men, did not surrender uncon- 
ditionally, I cannot imagine. During the night, abandoning 
guns and all war material, the remains of Tso's brigade 
and all the infantry and unwounded men passed through 
the deserted and silent city, surged out of the PoUmg 
Mdn, crossed a shallow stream, and emerged upon a plain 
girdled by low hills, and intersected by the Peking road, 
the eastern extremity being occupied by some Chinese 
forts and breastworks. Tso's cavalry attempted to cross 
the plain and gain the shelter of some low hills, while 
great numbers of the infantry took to the Peking road. 

The horrors of that night will never be accurately 
known. The battle of Phyong-yang was lost and won 
when the forts were taken. What remained was less of a 
battle than a massacre. Before the morning, this force, 
the flower of the Chinese army as to drill and equipment, 
had perished, those who escaped never reappearing as an 
organised body. It is estimated that from 2000 to 4000 
men were slain, with thousands of horses and bulls, the 
cavalry being literally mown down in hundreds, and 



XXV] THE HORROBS OF WAR 121 

lying, men and horses, heaped "in mounds." For the 
Japanese had girdled the plain with a ring of fire. Mr. 
Moffett, who was there three weeks later, described the 
scene even then as one of "indescribable horror." Still, 
there were "mounds" of men and horses stiffened in the 
death-agony, many having tried vainly to extricate them- 
selves from the pile above them. There were blackened 
corpses in hundreds lying along the Peking road, ditches 
filled up with bodies of men and animals, fields sprinkled 
with them, and rifles, muskets, paper umbrellas, fans, 
coats, hats, sword-belts, scabbards, cartridge-boxes, sleeves, 
and everything that could be cast away in a desperate 
flight, strewing the ground. Numbers of the wounded 
crept into the deserted houses and died there, some of the 
bodies showing indications of suicide from agony, and 
throughout this mass of human relics which lay blackening 
and festering in the hot sun, dogs, left behind by their 
owners, were holding high carnival. Even in my walks 
over the battlefield, though the grain of another year had 
ripened upon it, I saw human skulls, spines with ribs, 
spines with the pelvis attached, arms and hands, hats, 
belts, and scabbards. 

On a lofty knoll within the wall, the Japanese have 
erected a fine monolith to the memory of the 168 men 
they lost. They turned the temple of the God of War into 
a hospital, and there, cela va sans dire, their wounded were 
admirably treated, and in another building the Chinese 
wounded were carefully attended to, though naturally not 
till many of them had died of their wounds on the battle- 
field. A ghastly retribution followed the neglect to bury 
the Chinese dead, for typhus fever broke out, and its 



122 FROM SONG-DO TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

ravages among the Japanese troops may be partially 
estimated by the long lines of graves in the military 
cemetery at Chemulpo. 

Outside the wall, in beautifully-broken ground, roughly 
wooded with the Pinus sinensis, there are still bullets in 
the branches, many of which were splintered by the iron 
hail, and the temple at the tomb of Kit-ze, the founder of 
Korean civilisation, must have been the centre of a deadly 
fight, for its woodwork is riddled with bullets and damaged 
by shell, and on its floor are great dark stains, where, when 
the fight was over, the Japanese wounded lay in pools of 
blood. 

At some points, specially at the mud forts by the ferry, 
the Chinese made a very determined stand for ten hours, so 
that the Japanese troops wavered, and were only recovered 
by a gallant dash made by General Oshima. Probably 
the battle of Phyong-yang decided the fate of the 
campaign. 

Mr. Yi found an old book in eighteen vols, for sale, 
which gives a history of this city. Many Korean matters are 
lost in obscurity after one or two centuries, but the story 
of Phyong-yang takes a bold backward leap and deals 
fearlessly with the events of centuries b.c. Kit-ze, whose 
fine reputed tomb and temples in the wood are still re- 
garded with so much reverence that a stone tablet on the 
road below warns equestrians to dismount in passing so 
sacred a place, and who is said to have emigrated from 
China in 1122 B.C., and to have founded a dynasty which 
lasted for seven centuries, made Phyong-yang his capital. 
The temple at his reputed grave, though full of bullets, is 
in admirable repair, and its rich decorations have lately 



XXVI A DECORATED TEMPLE 123 

been renovated, a phenomenon in Korea. Near the city 
is the standard of land-measurement which he introduced, 
illustrated by ditches and paths cut, it is said, by himself. 
The temple to the God of War at the foot of the hill 
is perhaps the finest in Korea. Frescoes, as in the temple 
to the same god outside the South Gate of Seoul, but on 
a far grander scale, cover the walls of the corridors of one 
of the courtyards, and the gigantic figures round the altar, 
with the sacrificial utensils, hangings, and dresses, are 
costly and magnificent Not far from this is a large and 
wealthy Buddhist monastery. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



NORTHWARD HO I 



For the northern journey simple preparations only were 
needed, consisting of the purchase of candles and two 
blankets for Im, in having two pheasants cooked, in 
dispensing with one pony, leaving us the moderate allow- 
ance of two baggage animals, and in depositing most of 
my money with Mr. Moflfett. For there were rumours of 
robbers on the road, and Mr. Yi left his fine clothes and 
elegant travelling gear also behind. 

On a brilliant morning (and when are Korean mornings 
not brilliant?), passing through the gate out of which 
General Tso made his last sally, and down the steep 
declivity on which it opens, we travelled for a time along 
the An Ju road, skirting the base of the hill on which the 
Chinese cavalry made their desperate attack on an 
intrenched position, and near the mins of two intrenched 
camps, where they fell in hundreds before the merciless 
fire of the enemy, and where himian bones were still lying 
about. But where Death reaped that ghastly harvest 
magnificent grain crops had recently been secured, and 
the mellow sunlight shone on miles of stubble. 



CHAP. XXVII THE RED MILLET 126 

Shortly we turned oflf on a road untouched by the havoc 
of war, and saw no more of the gaunt ruins or charred 
remains of cottages. In that pleasant region ranges of 
hills with pines on their lower slopes girdle valleys of rich 
stoneless alluvium, producing abundantly cotton, tobacco, 
castor oil, wheat, barley, peas, beans, and most especially, 
the red and white millet. Wherever a lateral valley 
descends upon the one through which the road passes, 
there is a village of thatched houses, pretty enough at 
a distance and embowered in fruit trees, while clumps 
of pines, oaks, elms, and zelkawas denote the burial-places 
of its dead, who are the guardians of the only fine timber 
which is suffered to exist. 

The hamlets along the road were cheerfully busy. 
Millet was stacked in the village roadways, leaving only 
room for one laden animal to pass at a time, and as all 
the threshing of rice and grain is done with double flails 
also in the village street, one actually rides over the 
threshed product. The red or large millet is nearly as 
useful to the Korean as is the bamboo to the Chinese. Its 
stalks furnish fuel, material for mats and thick woven 
fences, and even for houses, for in Phyong-an Do the walls 
are formed of bundles of millet stalks 8 feet high for the 
uprights, across which single stalks are laid, the interstices 
being filled up with mud. 

After two days of somewhat monotonous prettiness, 
beyond Shou-yang-yi the country became really beautiful. 
Some of the larger valleys were specially attractive, with 
abundance of fruit and other deciduous trees below the 
dark Finns sinensis on the hill -slopes, and there were 
plenty of large villages with a general look of prosperity. 



mmBmBamBBo^mmmmm 



126 NORTHWARD HO ! chap. 

everything, clothing included, being much cleaner than 
usual There were fine views of lofty dog-tooth peaks, 
and of serrated ranges running east and west. Nearly 
every valley has its bright, rapid stream, on which the 
hills descend on one side in abrupt and much-cavemed 
limestone cliflFs, the other side being level and fertile. The 
people there, and doubtless everywhere, were taken up 
entirely with their own concerns, the new system of 
taxation under which a fixed tax in money is levied on 
the assessed value of the land meeting with their approval. 
Events in Seoul had no interest for them. The recent 
murder of the Queen and the imprisonment of the King 
did not concern them, as there were no effects of either on 
their circumstances. After crossing the pass of Miriok 
Yang, 816 feet in altitude, in a romantic region, we entered 
poorer country with stony soil, often piled with large 
shingle by the violence of streams then perfectly dry. 

By misdirection, misunderstanding, or complexity or 
complete illegibility of the track, we spent much of the 
day in losing and retracing our way, scrambling up steep 
rock ladders, etc., and when we reached Kai-pang after 
dusk we were for some time refused admission to the inn. 
The owner said he could not take in any one travelling 
with so many mapu (four) and a soldier. He was terrified. 
He said we should go away in the morning without paying 
him, and should beat him when he asked to be paid! 
However, the mapu gave me such an excellent character 
that at last he consented, and I had an excellent room, — 
that is, the walls and roof were cream-washed, which gave 
it a look of cleanliness. The timid innkeeper was old, and 
this brought out the fact that when a local magistrate has 



xxyii KOREAN PAPER 127 

aged parents, it is customary for him to invite to an enter- 
tainment everybody in his district between the ages of 60 
and 100, and it is usual for the old men to take their 
oldest grandsons with them as testimonies to their old 
age. As every guest has to be accompanied fittingly, the 
company often numbers 200. 

At Ka-chang and elsewhere the pig-sties are much 
more solid than the houses, being regular log cabins with 
substantial roofs for the protection of their inmates from 
tigers, or in that neighbourhood from wolves (?). These 
pigs, of which every country family in Korea possesses 
some, are of an absurdly small black breed, a full-grown 
animal not weighing more than 26 lbs. 

During the two days' journey from the market-place of 
Sian-chong, we passed the magistracies of Cha-san and Un- 
san, ferrying the Tai-dong just beyond Cha-san, where it is 
a fine stream 317 yards broad, and is said by the ferrymen 
to be 47 feet deep. All that region is well peopled and 
fertile. There are no resident yang-hans in the province of 
Phyong-an. Gold is obtained by a simple process all round 
the country, specially at Keum-san. At Wol-po, a prettily 
situated village, and elsewhere, a quantity of the coarser 
descriptions of paper is made. Paper and tobacco were the 
goods that were on the move, bound for Phyong-yang. 

Paper is used for a greater variety of purposes in Korea 
than anywhere else, and its toughness and durability 
render it invaluable. The coarser sorts are made from 
old rags and paper, the finer from the paper mulberry. 
Paper is the one article of Korean manufacture which is 
exported in any quantity to China, where it is used for 
some of the same purposes. 



IBS NORTHWARD HO ! chap. 

Oil paper about a sixth of an inch in thickness ia pasted 
on tho lioors instead of carpets or mats. It bears washing, 
and takes a high polish from dry rubbing. In the Edyiil 
Palaces, where two tints are used eareftdly, it resembles 
oak parquet. It is also used for walls. A thinner quality 
ia made into the folding, conical hat-covers which every 
Korean carries in his sleeve, and into waterproof cloaks, coats 
and baggage covers. A very thick kind of paper made of 
several thicknesses beaten together is used for trunks, 
which are strong enough to hold heavy articles. Lanterns, 
tobacco-pouches, and fans are made of paper, and the 
Korean wooden latticed windows from the palace to the 
hovel are "glazed" with a thin, white, tough variety, 
which is translucent. Much prized, however, were my 
photographic glass plates when cleaned. Many a joyful 
householder let one into his window, giving himself an 
opportunity of amusement and espionage denied to hia 



The day's journey from Ka-chang to Tok Chhou ia 
through very atti'active scenery with grand mountain views. 
After crossing a low but severe pass, we came down upon a 
laige affluent of the Tai-dong, which for want of a name I 
designate as the Ko-mop-ao, Howing as a full-watered, green 
stream between lofty cliffs of much-cavemed limestone, 
fantastically buttressed, and between hills which throw 
out rocky spurs, terminating or thinning down into high 
limestone walls, resembling those of ruinoua fortifications. 

Again losing the way and our time, a struggle over a 
rough pass brought us in view of the Tai-dong, with the 
characteristics of its mountain course, long rapids with 
glints of foam and rocks, long reaches of deep, still, slow- 



xxvn DIFFICULT TRAVELLING 129 

gliding jagged translucent green water broad and deep, 
making constant abrupt turns, and by its volume suggesting 
great powers of destructiveness when it is liberated from 
its mountain barriers. In about a fortnight it would be 
frozen for the winter. Diamond-flashing in the fine breeze, 
below noble cliffs and cobalt mountains, across which cloud 
shadows were sailing in indigo, under a vault of cloud- 
flecked blue, that view was one of those dreams of beauty 
which become a possession for ever. 

From that pass the road, if it can be called such, is 
shut in with the Tai-dong for 30 li. In some places there 
is not room even for the narrowest bridle-track, and the 
ponies scramble as they may over the rough boulders 
which margin the water, and climb the worn, steep, and 
rocky steps, often as high as their own knees, by which 
the break-neck track is taken over the rocky spurs which 
descend on the river. It is one of the worst pieces of 
road I ever encountered, and it was not wonderful that we 
did not meet a single traveller, and that there should be 
only about nine a year ! We made by our utmost efforts 
only a short mile an hour, and it took us five hours of this 
severe work to reach the wretched hamlet of Huok Kuri, 
a few hovels dumped down among heaps of stones and 
great boulders, some of which served as backs for the 
huts. Poverty-stricken, filthy, squalid, the few inhabitants 
subsisted entirely on red millet ! Poor Mr. Yi, who had 
had a wakeful night owing to vermin, said woefully as he 
dismounted stiffly, " Sleepy, tired, cold, hungry," — and there 
was nothing to eat, and little for the ponies either, which 
may have been the reason that they got up a desperate 
fight, of which they bore the traces for some days. 

VOL. n K 



130 NORTHWARD HO! cuiP, 

The track eontimied shut iii by the high mountains 
which line the Tai-dong till within a mile of Tok Chlion, 
forcing the ponies to climh worn rock-ladders, or to pick a 
perilous way among sharp-pointed rocks, I had not 
thought that Korea could pioduce anything bo emphatic ! 
As the road occasionally broke up in face of some appar- 
ently impassable spur, we occasionally got into impassable 
places, and lost time so badly that we were benighted 
when little more than half-way, but as there were no 
inhabitants we pushed on as a matter of necessity. When 
we got to better going the mapu, inspired by the double 
terror of robbers and wild animals, hurried on the ponies, 
yelling as they drove, and by the time we reached the Tok 
Chhon ferry a young moon had risen, and the mountains in 
shadow, and the great ferry-boat fuU of horses, men in 
white, and bulls, in relief against the silvered water, made 
a beautiful night scene. I sent on the ponies, and Im to 
prepare my room, fully expecting comfort, as at Phyong- 
yang, for though I could never find anybody who had 
been at Tok Ohhon, it was always spoken of as a sort of 
metropoliB. 

It is indeed a magistracy, with a remarkably ruinous 
yamen and a market-place, and is the chief town of a very 
large region. It is entered from the river by stepping- 
stones, through abominable slush, by a long naiTOw street, 
from which we were directed on and on till we came to a 
wide place, where the inns of the town ara There in the 
moonlight a great masculine crowd had collected, and in 
the middle of it were our mapu,, with the loads still on 
their ponies, raging at large, and Im rushing hither and 
thither like a madman. For they had been refused 



xxvn ANTI-FOREIGN FEELING 131 

accommodation, and every door had been barred against 
them on the ground that I was a foreigner ! They said, 
truly or felsely, that no foreigner had ever profaned Tok 
Ghhon by his presence, that they lived in peace, and did not 
want to be "implicated with a foreigner" (all foreigners 
being Japanese). It is most disagreeable to force oneself 
in even the slightest degree on any one, but I had been 
twelve hours in the saddle, it was 8 P.M., there was snow 
on the ground, and it was freezing hard I The yard door 
of one inn was opened a chink for a moment, our men 
rushed for it, but it was at once barred, and we were all 
again left standing in the street, the centre of a crowd 
which increased every moment. 

Our men eventually forced open the door of one inn 
and got their ponies in. Then the paper was torn off two 
doors, and Im was visible against the light from within 
tearing about like a black daemon. We had then stood 
like statues for two hours with our feet in freezing slush, 
the great crowd preserving a ring round us, staring stolidly, 
but not showing any hostility. At last Im appeared at 
an open door, waving my chair, and we got into a high, 
dark lumber-room ; but the crowd was too quick for us, 
and came tumbling in behind us till the place was fulL 
Then the landlord closed the doors, but they were smashed 
in, and he had no better luck when he weakly besought 
the people to look at him and not at the stranger, for his 
entreaty only produced an ebullition of Korean wit, by no 
means complimentary. An ofi&cial from the yomen arrived 
and inquired if I had any complaint to make, but I had 
none, and he sat down and took a prolonged stare on his 
own account, not making any attempt to disperse the crowd. 



132 NORTHWARD HOI ckap. 

So I sat facing the door, Mr. Ti nob far off smoking 
endless cigarettes, while Im battled for a room, after one 
he had secured had its doors broken down by the crowd. 
I sat for two hours longer in that cold, ruinoms, miaerable 
place, two front and three back doorways filled up with 
men, the whole male population of Tok Chhon, and, 
never moved a muscle or showed any s^n of dissatis- 
faction ! gome sat on the door-sill, little men were on the 
shoulders of big onea, all, inside and outside, clamouring 
at once. 

The situation m^ht have been serious had a European 
man been with me, and the experiences of Mr. Campbell 
of the Consular Service, at Kapsan, might have been 
repeated, No Englishman could have kept hia temper in 
such circumstances from 8 p.m. till midnight. He would 
certainly have knocked somebody down, and then there 
would have been a fight. The ill-bred curiosity tires but 
does not annoy me, though it exceeded all bounds that 
night. Fortunately for me, a Korean gentleman is taught 
from his earliest boyhood that he must never lose his 
temper, and that it is a degradation to him to touch an 
inferior, therefore he must never strike a servant or one 
of the lower orders. 

At midnight, probably weary of our passivity, and 
anxious for sleep, the inn people consented to give me a 
room in the back-yard if I did not object to one " prepared 
for sacrifice," and containing the ancestral tablets. The 
crowd then filled the back -yard, and attempted to pour into 
my room, when Im's sorely-tried patience gave way for 
only the second time, and he knocked people down right 
and left. This, and the contents of a fire-bowl which was 



A "TABLET HOUSE" 133 

upset in the scrimmage, helped to scatter the crowd, but 
it was there again at daylight, attempting to enter every 
time Im opened the door ! 

The " room prepared for sacrifice " in aspect was a 
small bam, fearfully dirty and littered with rubbish, and 
bundles of rags, rope, and old shoes were tucked away 
among the beams and rafters. My camp-bed cut it 
exactly in half. In the inner half there was a dusty 
table, and behind it on a black stand a dusty black shrine, 
at the back of which waa a four-leaved screen covered with 
long strips of paper, on which were poems in praise of the 
deceased. In front, dividing the room, and falUng from 
the roof to the floor, was a curtain made of two widths of 
very dirty foreign calico. Among the poor, instead of 
setting food before the ancestral shrine twice or thrice 
daily during the three years of mourning for a parent, it 
ifl only plaeed there twice a month. In a small white 
wooden tablet within the shrine popular belief places the 
residence of the third soul of the deceased, as I have 
mentioned before. 

I spent two days at Tok Chhon. Properly speakii^, 
the Tai-dong is never navigable to that point, owing to 
many and dangerous rapids, and any idea of the possibility 
of this highly picturesque stream becoming "a great 
oonunercial highway" may be utterly dismissed. Small 
boats can ascend it at all seasons to Mou-chin Tai, about 
140 li lower down, and during two summer montlis, when 
the water is high, a few with much difficulty get up to 
Tok Chhon, and even a few li farther, and at the same 
season rafts descend from the forests of the Tung-won 
district, from 30 to 40 li higher; but owing to severe 



136 NORTHWARD HOI ohap.xxvii 

edict abolishing this attendance, and reducing the salaries 
of magistrates, had recently been promulgated. At Tok 
Chhon, the ruin and decay of oflBcial buildings, and the 
filth and squalor of the private dwellings, could go no 
farther. 



CHAPTEE XXVIII 

FROM TOK CHHON TO PHYONG-YANG 

Finding the Tai-dong totally impracticable, and being 
limited as to time by the approach of the closing of the 
river below Phyong-yang by ice, I regretfully turned 
southwards, and journeyed Seoul-wards by another route, 
of much interest, which touches here and there the right 
bank of the Tai-dong. 

As I sat amidst the dirt, squalor, rubbish, and odd-and- 
endism of the inn yard before starting, surrounded by an 
apathetic, dirty, vacant - looking, open-mouthed crowd 
steeped in poverty, I felt Korea to be hopeless, helpless, 
pitiable, piteous, a mere shuttlecock of certain great 
powers, and that there is no hope for her population of 
twelve or fourteen millions, unless it is taken in hand 
by Eussia, under whose rule, giving security for the gains 
of industry as well as light taxation, I had seen Koreans 
in hundreds transformed into energetic, thriving, peasant 
farmers in Eastern Siberia. 

The road, which was said, and truly, to be a very bad 
one, crosses a small plain, and passing under a roofed gate- 
way between two hills which are scarred by remains of 



138 FROM TOK CHHON TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

fortifications running east and west, enters upon really 
fine scenery, which becomes magnificent in about 30 li, at 
first a fertile mountain-girdled basin, whose rim is spotted 
with large villages, and then a narrowing valley with 
stony soil, and a sparse population, walled in by savage 
mountains of emphatic forms, swinging apart at times, 
and revealing loftier peais and ranges then glittering with 
new-fallen snow. 

In crossing the plain at a point where the road was 
good, I was remarking to Mr. Yi what a pleasant and 
prosperous journey we had had, and hoping our good 
fortune might continue, when there was a sudden claah 
and flurry, I was nearly kicked off my pony, and in a 
moment we were in the midst of disaster. One baggage 
pony was on his back on his load, pawing the air in the 
middle of a ploughed field, his mapu helpless for the time, 
lamed by a kick above the knee, sobbing, blood and te€u*8 
running down his face ; the other baggage animal, having 
divested himself of Im, was kicking off the rest of his 
load ; and Im, who had been thrown from the top of the 
pack, was sitting on the roadside, evidently in intense 
pain — all the work of a moment. Mr. Yi called to me 
that the soldier had broken his ankle, and it was a great 
relief when he rose and walked towards me. Everything 
breakable was broken except my photographic camera, 
which I did not look at for two days for fear of what I 
might find ! 

Leaving the men to get the loads and ponies together, 
we walked on to a hamlet so destitute as not to be able 
to provide either wood or wadding for a splint ! I picked 
up a thick faggot, however, which had been dropped from 



xxvm A BROKEN ABM 139 

a load, and it was thinned into being usable with a hatchet, 
the only tool the viUage possessed, and after padding it 
with a pair of stockings and making a six-yard bandage out 
of a cotton garment, I put up Im's right arm, which was 
broken just above the wrist, in splints, and made a sling 
out of one of the two towels which the rats had left to 
me. I shoidd have been glad to know Korean enough to 
rate the gossiping mapii^ three men to two horses, who 
allowed the accident to happen. 

The animals always fight if they are left to themselves, 
and loads and riders are nowhere. One day Mr. Yi had 
a bit of a finger taken off in a fight, and if a strange brute 
had not kicked my stirrup iron (which waa bent by the 
blow) instead of myself, I should have had a broken ankle. 
When we halted at mid-day the villagers tried hard to 
induce Im to have his arm '' needled " to '' let out the bad 
blood," a most risky surgical proceeding, which often 
destroys the usefulness of a limb for life, and he was 
anxious for it, but yielded to persuasion. 

Being delayed by this accident, it was late when we 
started to cross the pass of An-kil Yung, regarded as " the 
most dangerous in Korea," owing to its liability to sudden 
fogs and violent storms, 3346 feet in altitude, and said to 
be 30 li long. 

The infamous path traverses a wild rocky glen with an 
impetuous torrent at its bottom, and only a few wretched 
hamlets, in which the hovels are indistinguishable from 
the millet and brushwood stacks, along its length of several 
miles. Poverty, limiting the. people to the barest 
necessaries of life, is the lot of the peasant in that region, 
but I believe that his dirty and squalid habits give an 



140 FROM TOK CHHON TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

impression of want which does not actually exist. I 
doubt much whether any Koreans are unable to provide 
themselves with two daily meals of millet, with clothes 
sufficient for decency in summer and for warmth in 
winter, and with fuel (grass, leaves, twigs, and weeds) 
enough to keep their miserable rooms at a temperature 
of 70° and more by means of the hot floor. 

To the west the valley is absolutely closed in by a wall 
of peaks. The bridle-path, a well-engineered road, when 
it ascends the very steep ridge of the watershed in many 
zigzags, rests for 100 feet, and descends the western side 
by seventy-five turns. Except in Tibet, I never saw so 
apparently insurmountable an obstacle, but it does not 
present any real difficulty. The ascent took seventy 
minutes. Eain fell very heavily, but the superb view to 
the north-east was scarcely obscured. At the top, which 
is only 100 feet wide, there is a celebrated shrine to the 
daemon of the pass. To him all travellers put up petitions 
for deliverance from the many malignant spirits who are 
waiting to injure them, and for a safe descent. The shrine 
contains many strips of paper inscribed with the names of * 
those who have made special payments for special prayers, 
and a few wreaths and posies of faded paper flowers. The 
woman who lives in the one hovel on the pass makes a 
good living by receiving money from travellers, who offer 
rice cakes and desire prayers. The worship is nearly all 
done by proxy, and the rice cakes do duty any number of 
times. 

Besides the shrine and a one -roomed hovel, there 
are some open sheds made of millet-stalks to give shelter 
during storms. The An-kil Yung pass is blocked by snow 



I 



CRAMPED QUAETEBS 141 

tfor three months of the year, but at other times is much 

'-used in spite of its great height. Excellent potatoea are 
grown on the mountain slopes at an altitude exceeding 

' 3000 feet, and round Tok Chlion they are largely cultivated 
and enter into the diet of the people, never having had 
the disease. 

Darkness came on prematurely with the heavy rain, 

' and we asked the shrine-keeper to give us shelter for the 
night, hut she said that to take in sis men and a foreign 
woman was impoaaible, as she had only one room. But it 
was equally impossible for us to descend the pass in the 
darkness with ticed ponies, and after half an hour's alterca- 
tion the matter was arranged, Im, who retained his wits, 
securing for me a degree of privacy by hanging some 
heavy mata from a beam, giving me, I am sure, the lion's 
share of the apartment. Eeally the accommodation was not 
much worse than usual, but though the mercury fell to the 
freezing point, the hot floor kept the inside temperature 
up to 83°, and the dread of tigers on the part of my 
hostess forbade my having even a chink of the door 
open! 

The rain cleared off in time for the last sunset gleam 
on the distant mountains, which, when darkness fell on 
the pass, burned fiery red against a strip of pale green sky, 
taking on afterwards one by one the ashy look of death as 
the light died off from their snows. All about An-kil 
Yung the mountains are wooded to their summits with 
deciduous trees, the ubiquitous Pinua sinensis being rare; 
but to the northward in the direction of Paik-tu San the 
character of the scenery changes, and peaks and precipices 
of naked rock, and lofty mountain monoliths, with snow- 



148 FROM TOff CHHON TO PHYOSG-TANG chap. 

crowned ranges beyond, form b; far the grandest view that 
[ saw in this land of hill and valley. 

Then Im had to be attended to, and though I was very 
anxious about him, I could not be blind to the pictureeque- 
nesa of the Bcene in the hovel, Mr. Yi sitting in my chair 
holding the candle, the soldier, with his face puckered with 
pain, squatting on the floor with his swollen arm lying on 
a writing board on my lap, and no room to move. I failed 
there aa elsewhere to get a better piece of wood for the 
splint, which was too short, and I could only get wadding 
for padding it by taking some out of Im's sleeve, and all 
the time and afterwards I was very anxious for fear that 
I had put the bandage ou too tightly or too loosely, and 
that my want of experience would give the poor fellow a 
useless right arm. He was in severe pain all that night, 
hut he was very plucky about it, made no fuss, and never 
allowed me to suffer in the slightest degree from his 
accident. Indeed, he waa even more attentive than 
before. He said to Mr. Vi, " The foreign woman looked so 
sorry, and touched my arm aa if I had been one of her 
own people, I shall do my beet" — and so he did. I had 
indulged in a long perspective of pheasant curries, and I 
must confess that when the prospect faded I felt a little 
dismal. To a traveller who carries no " foreign food," it 
makes a great difference to get a nice, hot, stimulating dish 
(even though it is served in the pot it is cooked in) after 
a ten hours' cold ride, To my surprise, I waa never 
without curry for dinner, and though before the accident 
I had only cold rice for tiffin, after it I waa never with- 
out something hot. 

The descent of An-kil Yung is very grand. The roatl 



X3vm DESCENT OF THE AN-KIL YUNG PASS K3 

leads ioto a wide valley with a fine stream, one aide of 
' which looks aa if the moiintaiiis had dumped down all 
their avaOable stones upon it, while the other is rich 
alluvial soil. Gold-washing ia carried on to a great 
extent along this stream, which ia a tributary of the 
Tai-dong, and some of the workings show more care and 
method than usual, being pits neatly lined with stone in 
their upper parts. Eighty cents per day is the average 
earning of a gold-seeker there. This valley terminates in 
pretty, broken country, with fine mountain views, and 
picturesque cliffs along the river, on which the dark blue 
gloom of pines was lighted by the fading scarlet of the 
maple, and crimson streaks of the Amqiehpsis Vdtchii 
brightened the russet into which the countleaa trailers 
which draped the rocka had passed. The increased fertility 
of the soil was denoted by the number of villages and 
hamlets on the road, and foot-passengers in twos and 
threes gave something of life and movement. But it waa 
remarkable that so soon after the harvest, and when the 
I roads were in their beat condition, there were no goods 
' in transit except such local productions as paper and 
tobacco — no strings of porters or ponies carrying goods 
into the interior from Phyong-yang, no evidence of trade 
but that given by the pedlars going the round of the 
market-places. 
I Along that road and elsewhere near the villages there 
are tall poles branching at the top into a V, which are 
erected in the belief that they will guard the inhabitants 
from cholera and other pestilences. On that day's journey, 
at a cross-road, a small log with several holes like those of 
ouae-trap, one of them plugged doubly with buuga of 



144 FROM TOK CHHCjN TO PHYONG-YANG chap. 

wood, was lying on the path, and the mapu were careful to 
step over it and lead their ponies over it, though it might 
easily have been avoided. Into the bunged hole the 
mvAang or sorceress by her arts had inveigled a daemon 
which was causing sickness in a family, and had corked 
him up \ It is proper for passers-by to step over the log. 
At nightfall it is buried. That afternoon's ride was 
through extremely attractive country — small valley 
basins of rich stoneless soil, with brown hamlets nestling 
round them in calm, pine-sheltered folds of hills, which 
though not high are shapely, and were etherealised into 
purple beauty by the sinking sun, which turned the lake- 
like expanse of the Tai-dong at Mou-chin Tai, the beauti- 
fully situated halting-place for the night, into a sheet of 
gold. 

With a splendid climate, an abundant, but not super- 
abundant, rainfall, a fertile soil, a measure of freedom 
&om civil war and robber bands, the Koreans ought to be 
a happy and fairly prosperous people. K "squeezing," 
yamm, runners and their exactions, and certain malign 
practices of officials can be put down with a strong hand, 
and the land-tax is fairly levied and collected, and law 
becomes an agent for protection rather than an instrument 
of injustice, I see no reason why the Korean peasant 
should not be as happy and industrious as the Japanese 
peasant. But these are great " ifs " ! Secfu/rUyfor the gains 
of industry y from whatever quarter it comes, will, I believe, 
transform the limp, apathetic native. Such ameliorations 
as have been made are owed to Japan, but she had not 
a free hand, and she was too inexperienced in the r61e 
which she undertook (and I believe honestly) to play, to 



xxvra THE KOBEAN WORM TURNS 146 

produce a harmonious working scheme of reform. Besides, 
the men through whom any such scheme must be carried 
out are nearly imiversally corrupt both by tradition and 
habit. Beform was jerky and piecemeal, and Japan 
irritated the people by meddlesomeness in small matters 
and suggested interferences with national habits, giving the 
impression, which I found prevailing everywhere, that her 
object was to denationalise the Koreans for purposes of 
her own. 

Travellers are much impressed with the laziness of the 
Koreans, but after seeing their energy and industry in 
Bussian Manchuria, their thrift, and the abimdant and 
comfortable furnishings of their houses, I greatly doubt 
whether it is to be regarded as a matter of temperament. 
Every man in Korea knows that poverty is his best 
security, and that anything he possesses beyond that 
which provides himself and his family with food and 
clothing is certain to be taken from him by voracious and 
corrupt officials. It is only when the exactions of officials 
become absolutely intolerable and encroach upon his 
means of providing the necessaries of life that he resorts 
to the only method of redress in his power, which has a 
sort of counterpart in China. This consists in driving out, 
and occasionally in killing, the obnoxious and intolerable 
magistrate, or, as in a case which lately gained much 
notoriety, roasting his favourite secretary on a wood pile. 
The popular outburst, though under unusual provocation 
it may culminate in deeds of regrettable violence, is usually 
founded on right, and is an effective protest. 

Among the modes of squeezing are forced labour, 
doubling or trebling the amount of a legitimate tax, exact- 

VOL. II L 



146 FROM TOK CHHCjN TO PHYONG-YANG ch. xxviii 

ing bribes in cases of litigation, forced loans, etc. If a man 
is reported to have saved a little money, an official asks for 
the loan of it. If it is granted, the lender frequently never 
sees principal or interest ; if it is refused, he is arrested, 
thrown into prison on some charge invented for his 
destruction, and beaten imtil either he or his relations for 
him produce the sum demanded. To such an extent are 
these demands carried, that in Northern Korea, where the 
winters are fairly severe, the peasants, when the harvest 
has left them with a few thousand cdsh, put them in a 
hole in the ground, and pour water into it, the frozen 
mass which results being then earthed over, when it is 
fairly safe both from officials and thieves. 



CHAPTEE XXIX 

THE POSITION OF KOREAN WOMEN 

Mau-chin-tai is a beautifully-situated village, and has 
something of a look of comfort. Up to that point small 
boats can come at all seasons, but there is almost no 
trade. The Tai-dong expands into a broad sheet of water, 
on which the hills descend abruptly. There is a ferry, and 
we drove our ponies into the ferry-boat and yelled for the 
ferryman. After a time he appeared on the top of the 
bank, but absolutely declined to take us over "for any 
money." He would have " nothing to do with a foreigner," 
he said, and he would not be " implicated with a Japanese " ! 
So we put ourselves across, and the mapu were so angry 
that they threw his poles into the river. 

Passing through very pretty country, and twice crossing 
the Tai-dong, we halted at the town of Sun-chhon, a 
magistracy with a deplorably ruinous yamen. All these 
of&cial buildings have seen better days. Their courts are 
spacious, and the double-roofed gateways, with their drum 
towers, as well as the central hall of the yamien, still 
retain a certain look of stateliness, though paint, lacquer, 
and gilding have long ago disappeared from the elaborately- 



148 THE POSITION OF KOBEAN WOMEN chap. 

arranged beams and carved wood of the roofs, and the 
fretwork screening the interiors is always shabby and 
broken. 

About the Sun Chhon yarrien, and all others, there are 
crowds of "runners," writers, soldiers in coarse ragged 
uniforms, young men of the yang-han class in spotless 
white garments, lounging, or walking with the swinging 
gait befitting their position, while the decayed and forlorn 
rooms in the courtyard are filled with petty officials 
smoking long pipes and playing cards. To judge from 
the crowds of attendants, the walking hither and thither, 
the hurrying in various directions with manuscripts, and 
the din of drums and fifes when the great gate is opened 
and closed, one would think that nothing less than the 
business of an empire was transacted within the ruinous 
portals. 

Soldiers, writers, yamen runners, and men of the yatig- 
ban and literary classes combined with the loafers of 
the town to compose a crowd which, by its buzzing and 
shouting, and tearing off the paper from my latticed door, 
gave me a fatiguing and hideous two hours, a Korean 
crowd being only tmheamble when it is led by men of the 
literary class, who, as in China, indulge in every sort of 
vulgar impertinence. Eventually I was smuggled into 
the women's apartments, where I was victimised in other 
ways by insatiable curiosity. 

The women of the lower classes in Korea are ill-bred 
and unmannerly, far removed from the gracefulness of the 
same class in Japan or the reticence and kindliness of the 
Chinese peasant women. Their clothing is extremely 
dirty, as if the men had a monopoly of their ceaseless 



KOREAN LAUNDRY-WORK 



149 



laundry -work, which everywhere goes on far into the 
n^t. Every brook-side has its laundreeses squatting on 
flat stones, dipping the soiled clothes in the water, laying 
them on flat stones in tightly-rolled huiidlea and heating 
them with fiat paddles, a previous process consisting of 
steeping them in a ley made of wood ashes. Bleached 
under the brilhant sun and very slightly glazed with rice 
starch, after being beaten for a length of time with short 




quick taps on a wooden roller with club-shaped " laundry 
sticks," common white cotton looks like dull white satin, 
and has a dazzling whiteness which always reminds me ot 
St. Mark's words concerning the raiment at the Trans- 
figuration, "so as no fuller on earth can white them. 
This wearing of white clothes, and especially of white 
wadded clothes in winter, entails very severe and incessant 
labour on the women. The coats have to be unpicked 
and put together again each time that they are washed, 
and though some of the long seams are often joined with 
paste, there is still much sewing to be done. 



160 THE POSITION OF KOEEAN WOMEN chap. 

Besides this the Korean peasant woman makes all the 
clothing of the household, does all the cooking, husks and 
cleans rice with a heavy pestle and mortar, carries heavy 
loads to market on her head, draws water, in r^note 
districts works in the fields, rises early and takes rest late, 
spins and weaves, and as a rule has many children, who 
are not weaned till the age of three. 

The peasant woman may be said to have no pleasures. 
She is nothing but a drudge, till she can transfer some of 
the drudgery to her daughter-in-law. At thirty she looks 
fifty, and at forty is frequently toothless. Even the love 
of personal adornment fades out of her life at a very early 
age. Beyond the daily routine of life it is probable that 
her thoughts never stray except to the daemons, who are 
supposed to people earth and air, and whom it is her special 
duty to propitiate. 

It is really difficult to form a general estimate of the 
position of women in Korea. Absolute seclusion is the 
inflexible rule among the upper classes. The ladies have 
their own courtyards and apartments, towards which no 
windows from the men's apartments must look. No 
allusion must be made by a visitor to the females of the 
household. Inquiries after their health would be a gross 
breach of etiquette, and politeness requires that they 
should not be supposed to exist. Women do not receive 
any intellectual training, and in every class are regarded 
as beings of a very inferior order. Nature having in the 
estimation of the Korean man, who holds a sort of dual 
philosophy, marked woman as his inferior, the YoutKs 
Primer, Historical Summaries, and the Littk Learning 
impress this view upon him in the schools, and as he 



XXIX THE SECLUSION OF WOMEN 161 

begins to mix with men this estimate of women receives 
daily corroboration. 

The seclusion of women was introduced five centuries 
ago by the present dynasty, in a time of great social 
corruption, for the protection of the family, and has prob- 
ably been continued, not, as a Korean frankly told Mr. 
Heber Jones, because men distrust their wives, but because 
they distrust each other, and with good reason, for the 
immorality of the cities and of the upper classes 6dmost 
exceeds belief. Thus all young women, and aU older 
women except those of the lowest class, are secluded within 
the inner courts of the houses by a custom which has more 
than the force of law. To go out suitably concealed at 
night, or on occasions when it is necessary to travel or to 
make a visit, in a rigidly-closed chair, are the only " out- 
ings " of a Korean woman of the middle and upper classes, 
and the low-class woman only goes out for purposes of 
work. 

The murdered Queen told me, in allusion to my own 
Korean journeys, that she knew nothing of Korea, or even 
of the capital, except on the route of the Kur-dong. 

Daughters have been put to death by their fathers, 
wives by their husbands, and women have even committed 
suicide, la,ccording to Dallet, when strange men, whether 
by accident or design, have even touched their hands, and 
quite lately a serving- woman gave as her reason for remiss- 
ness in attempting to save her mistress, who perished in a 
fire, that in the confusion a man had touched the lady, 
making her not worth saving ! 

The law may not enter the women's apartments. A 
noble hiding himself in his wife's rooms cannot be seized 



152 



THE POSITION OF KOREAN WOMEN 



for any crime except that of rebellion. A man wishing to 
repair his roof must notify his neighbours, lest by any 
chance he should see any of their women. After the age of 
seven, hoys and girls part company, and the giria are rigidly 
secluded, seeing none of the male aex except their fathers 
and brothers until the date of marriage, after which th 
can only see their own and their husbands' near male 
relations. Girl children, even among the very poor, are s 
snccessfully hidden away, that in somewhat extensive 
Korean journeys I never saw one girl who looked above 
the age of six, except hanging listlessly about in the 
women's rooms, and the brightness which girl life contri- 
butes to social existence is unknown in the country. 

But I am far from saying that the women fret and 
groan under this system, or crave for the freedom which 
European women enjoy. Seclusion is the custom of 
centuries. Their idea of Hherty is peril, and I quite 
believe that they think that they are closely guarded 
because they are valuable chattels. One intelligent woman, 
when I pressed her hard to say what they thought of our 
customs in the matter, replied, "We think that your 
husbands don't care for you very much " I 

Concubinage is a recognised institution, but not a 
respected one. The wife or mother of a man not i 
frequently selects the concubine, who in many cases is 
looked upon by the wife as a proper appendage of her 
husband's means or position, much as a carriage or a butler 
might be with us. The offspring in these cases are under 
a serious social stigma, and until lately have been excluded 
from some desirable positions. Legally the Korean is a 
strict monogamist, and even when a widower marries 



c DISABILITIES OF WOMEN IS3 

^;am, and there are children by the aecond marriage, 
those of the first wife retain special righte. 

There are no native Bchoolsfor girl9,and though women of 
the upper classes learn to read the native script, the number 
of Korean women who can read is estimated at two in a 
thousand. It appears that a philosophy largely imported 
from China, superstitions regarding demons, the education 
of men, illiteracy, a minimum of legal rights, and inexorable 
custom have combined to give woman as low a status in 
civilised Korea as in any of the barbarous countries in the 
world. Yet there is no doubt that the Korean woman, in 
addition to being a born intriguante, exercises a certain 
direct influence, especially as mother and mother-in-law, 
and in the arrangement of marriages. 

Her rights are few, and depend on custom rather than 
law. She now possesses the right of remarriage, and that of 
remaining unmarried till she is sixteen, and she can reiuse 
permission to her husband for his concubines to occupy 
the same house with herself. She is powerless to divorce 
her husband, conjugal fidelity, typified by the goose, the 
symbolic figure at a wedding, being a feminine virtue 
solely. Her husband may cast her off for seven reasons — 
incurable disease, theft, childlessness, infidehty, jealousy, 
incompatibility with her parents-in-law, and a quarrelsome 
disposition. She may be sent back to her father's house 
for any one of these causes. It is believed, however, that 
desertion is far more frequent than divorce. By custom 
rather than law she has certain recognised rights, as to 
the control of children, redress in case of damage, etc. 
Domestic happiness is a thing she does not look for. The 
Korean has a house, but no home. The husband has his 



164 THE POSITION OF KOREAN WOMEN chap, xxix 

life apaxt ; common ties of friendship and external interest 
are not known. His pleasure is taken in company with male 
acquaintances and gesang ; and the marriage relationship 
is briefly summarised in the remark of a Korean gentleman 
in conversation with me on the subject, " We marry our 
wives, but we love our concubines." 



CHAPTEE XXX 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 



At Cha san,a magistracy, we rejoined the road from which 
we had diverged on the northward journey. It is a quiet, 
decayed place, though in a good agricultural country. As 
I had been there before, the edge of curiosity was blunted, 
and there was no mobbing. The people gave a distressing 
account of their sufferings from the Chinese soldiers, who 
robbed them unscrupulously, took what they wanted with- 
out paying, and maltreated the womea The Koreans 
deserted, through fright, the adjacent ferry village of Ou- 
Chin-gang, where we previously crossed the Tai-dong, 
and it was held by 63 Chinese, being an important 
post. Two Japanese scouts appeared on the other side of 
the river, fired, and the Chinese detachment broke and 
fled! At Cha san, as elsewhere, the people expressed 
intense hatred of the Japanese, going so far as to say that 
they would not leave one of them alive; but, as in all other 
places, they bore unwilling testimony to the good conduct 
of the soldiers, and the regularity with which the- com- 
missariat paid for suppUes. 

The Japanese detachments were being withdrawn from 



166 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS cb 

the posts along that road, and we passed several well- 
equipped detachments, always preceded hy bulla loaded 
with red blankete. The men were dressed in heavy gray 
ulsters with deep fur-lined collars, and had very thick felt 
gloves. They marched aa if on parade, and their officera 
were remarkable for their smartness. When they halted 
for dinner, they found everything ready, and had nothing 
to do but stack their arms and eat ! The peasant women 
went on with their avocations as usual. In that district 
and in the region about Tok Chhon, the women seclude 
themselves in monstrous bats like our wicker garden 
sentry-boxes, but without bottoms. These extraordinary 
coverings are 7 feet long, 5 broad, and 3 deep, and shroud 
the figure from head to foot. Heavy rain fell during 
the night, and though the following day was beautiful, 
the road was a deep quagmire, so infamously bad that 
when only two and a half hours from Phjong-yang we had 
to stop at the wayside inn of An-chin-Miriok, where I 
slept in a granary only screened from the stable by a 
bamboo mat, and had the benefit of the squealing and 
vindictive sounds which accompanied numerous abortive 
fights. If possible, the next day exceeded its predecessors 
in beauty, and though the drawbacks of Korean travellmg 
are many, this journey had been so bright and so singularly 
prosperous, except for Im's accident, which, however, 
brought ont some of the best points of Korean character, 
that I was even sorry to leave the miserable little hostelry 
and conclude the expedition, and part with the vutpn, who 
throughout had behaved extremely welL The next morn- 
ing, crossing the battle-field once more and passing through 
the desolations which war had wrought, I reached my old, 



I 



PRECARIOUS TRANSPORT 167 

cold, but comparatively comfortable quarters at Phyong- 
yang, where I remained for six days. 

While the river remained open, a small Korean steamer 
of uncertain habita, the Earwng, plied nominally between 
Phyong-yang aud Chemulpo, but actually ran from Po-aan, 
a point about 60 li lower down the Tai-dong, which 
above it is too shallow and full of sandbanks for vessels 
of any draught, necessitatiDg the transhipment of all goods 
not brought up by junks of small tonnage. There was, 
however, no telegraph between Po-san and Phyiing-yang, 
no one knew when the steamer arrived except by cai^o 
cmmuig up the river, and she only remained a few hours ; 
80 that my visit to Phyong-yang was agitated by the fear 
of losing her, and having to make a long land journey 
when time was precious. There was no Korean post, and 
the Japanese military post and telegraph offlce absolutely 
refused to carry messages or letters for civilians. Wild 
rumours, oi' which there were a goodly crop every hour, 
were the substitute for news, 

A subject of special interest and inquiry at Phyong- 
yang was mission work as carried on by American 
missionaries. At Seoul it is far more difficult to get 
into touch with it, as, being older, it has naturally more of 
religious conventionality. But I will take this opportunity 
of saying that longer and more intimate acquaintance only 
confirmed the high opinion I early formed of the large 
body of missionaries in Seoul, of their earnestness and 
devotion to their work, of the energetic, hopeful, and 
patient spirit in which it is carried on, of the harmony 
prevailing among the different denominations, and the 
cordial and sympathetic feeling towards the Koreans. 



168 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS chap. 

The interest of many of the missionaries in Korean 
history, folklore, and customs, as evidenced by the pages 
of the valuable monthly, the Korean Repository, is also 
very admirable, and a traveller in Korea must apply to 
them for information vainly sought elsewhere. 

Christian missions were unsuccessful in Phyong-yang. 
It was a very rich and very immoral city. More than 
once it turned out some of the missionaries, and rejected 
Christianity with much hostility. Strong antagonism 
prevailed, the city was thronged with gesang, courtesans, 
and sorcerers, and was notorious for its wealth and infamy. 
The Methodist Mission was broken up for a time, and 
in six years the Presbyterians only numbered 28 converts. 
Then came the war, the destruction of Phyong-yang, 
its desertion by its inhabitants, the ruin of its trade, 
the reduction of its population from 60,000 or 70,000 to 
15,000, and the flight of the few Christians. 

Since the war there had been a very great change. 
There had been 28 baptisms, and some of the most 
notorious evil livers among the middle classes, men 
shunned by other men for their exceeding wickedness, 
were leading pure and righteous lives. There were 140 
catechumens under instruction, and subject to a long 
period of probation before receiving baptism, and the 
temporary church, though enlarged during my absence, 
was so overcrowded that many of the worshippers were 
compelled to remain outside. The oflfertories were liberal.^ 

^ The Seoul Christian News, a paper recently started, gave its readers 
an account of the Indian famine, with the result that the Christians in the 
magistracy of Chang-yang raised among themselves $84 for the sufferers 
in a land they had hardly heard of, some of the women sending their solid 
stiver rings to be turned into ccuh. In Seoul the native Presbyterian 



XXX MISSION WORK 159 

In the dilapidated extra-mural premises occupied by the 
missionaries, thirty men were living for twenty-one days, 
two from each of fifteen villages, all convinced of the truth 
of Christianity, and earnestly receiving instruction in Chris- 
tian fact and doctrine. They were studying for six hours 
daily with teachers, and for a far longer time amongst them- 
selves, and had meetings for prayer, singing, and informal 
talk each evening. I attended three of these, and as Mr. 
Moflfett interpreted for me, I was placed in touch with 
much of what was unusual and interesting, and learned 
more of missions in their earlier stage than anywhere else. 
Besides the thirty men from the villages, the Christians 
and catechumens from the city crowded the room and 
doorways. Two missionaries sat on the floor at one end 
of the room with a kerosene lamp mounted securely on 
two wooden pillows in front of them: — then there were a 
few candles on the floor, centres of closely-packed groups. 
Hymns were howled in many keys to familiar tunes, 
several Koreans prayed, bowing their foreheads to the 
earth in reverence, after which some gave accounts of how 
the Gospel reached their villages, chiefly through visits 
from the few Phyong-yang Christians, who were " scattered 
abroad," and then two men, who seemed very eloquent 
as well as fluent, and riveted the attention of all, gave narra- 
tives of two other men who they believed were possessed 
with devils, and said the devils had been driven out a few 
months previously by imited prayer, and that the " foul 
spirits " were adjured in the name of Jesus to come out, 

churches gave $60 to the same fund, of which $20 were collected hy a new 
congregation organised entirely by Koreans. I am under the impression 
that the liberality of the Korean Christians in proportion to their means 
far exceeds our own. 



160 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS chap. 

and that the men trembled and turned cold as the devils 
lefb them, never to return, and that both became Christians^ 
along with many who saw them. 

A good many men came from distant villages one 
afternoon to ask for Christian teaching, and in the evening 
one after another got up and told how a refagee from 
Phyong-yang had come to his village and had told them 
that they were both wicked and foolish to worship daemons, 
and that they were wrongdoers, and that there is a Lord 
of Heaven who judges wrongdoing, but that He is as loving 
as any father, and that they did not know what to think, 
but that in some plsu^es twenty and more were meeting 
daily to worship "the Highest," and that many of the 
women had buried the daemon fetishes, and that they 
wanted some one to go and teach them how to worship 
the true God. 

A young man told how his father, nearly eighty years 
old, had met Mr. Mofifett by the roadside, and hearing &om 
him ''some good things," had gone home saying he had 
heard " good news," " great news," and had got " the Books," 
and that he had become a Christian, and lived a good life, and 
had called his neighbours together to hear " the news," and 
would not rest till his son had come to be taught in the 
" good news," and take back a teacher. An elderly man, 
who had made a good Uving by sorcery, came and gave 
Mr. Moffett the instruments of his trade, saying he " had 
served devils all his life, but now he knew that they were 
wicked spirits, and he was serving the true God." 

On the same afternoon four requests for Christian 
teaching came to the missionaries, each signed by from 
fifteen to forty men. At all these evening meetings the 



XXX CHRISTIANITY IN PHYONG-YANG 161 

room was crammed within and without by men, reverent 
and earnest in manner, some of whom had been shunned 
for their wickedness even in a city " the smoke of which " 
in her palmy days was said "to go up like the smoke of 
Sodom," but who, transformed by a power outside them- 
selves, were then leading exemplary lives. There were 
groups in the dark, groups round the candles on the floor, 
groups in the doorways, and every face was aglow except 
that of poor, bewildered Im. One old man, with his 
forehead in the dust, prayed like a child that, as the 
letter bearing to New York an earnest request for more 
teachers was on its way, " the wind and sea might waft 
it favourably," and that when it was read the eyes of the 
foreigners^ might be opened " to see the sore need of people 
in a land where no one knows anything, and where all 
believe in devils, and are dying in the dark." 

As I looked upon those lighted faces, wearing an 
expression strongly contrasting with the dull, dazed look 
of apathy which is characteristic of the Korean, it was 
impossible not to recognise that it was the teaching of the 
Apostolic doctrines of sin, judgment to come, and divine 
love which had brought about such results, all the 
more remarkable because, according to the missionaries, 
a large majority of those who had renounced daemon- 
worship, and were living in the fear of the true God, had 
been attracted to Christianity in the first instance by 
the hope of gain! This, and almost unvarying testi- 
mony to the same effect, confirm me in the opinion that 
when people talk of "nations craving for the Gospel," 
"stretching out pleading hands for it," or "athirst for 

^ The American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. 
VOL,n M 



164 CHBISTIAN MISSIONS chap. 

chiefly composed of women and children, stood round the 
fence, the children imbibing devilry from their infancy. 

I was not at a regular inn in Phyong-yang but at a 
broker's house, with a yard to myself nominally, but 
which was by no means private. Im generally, and not 
roughly, requested the people to " move on," but he made 
two exceptions, one being in favour of a madwoman of 
superior appearance and apparel who haunted me on my 
second visit, hanging about the open front of my room, and 
following me to the mission-house and elsewhere. She 
said that I was her grandmother and that she must go 
with me everywhere, and, like many mad people, she had 
an important and mysterious communication to make 
which for obvious reasons never reached me. She was the 
concubine of a late governor of the city, and not having 
escaped before its capture, went mad from horror at seeing 
the Chinese spitted on the bayonets of the Japanese. She 
carried a long bodkin, and went through distressing 
pantomimes of running people through with it ! 

The other exception was in favour of gesaing, upon 
whose presence Im looked qidte approvingly, and 
evidently thought I did. 

Phyong-yang has always been famous for the beauty 
and accomplishments of its gesang, singing and dancing 
girls, resembling in many respects the geish'Os of Japan, but 
correctly speaking they mostly belong to the Gk)vemment, 
and are supported by the Korean Treasury. At the time of 
my two first sojourns in Seoul, about seventy of them were 
attached to the Boyal Palace. They were under the 
control of the same Government department as that with 
which the official musicians are connected. 



XXX KOREAN GESANO 166 

As a poor man gifted with many sons, for whom he 
cannot provide, sometimes presents one to the government 
as a eunuch, so he may give a girl to be a gesayu/. The 
gesang are trained from a very early age in such accom- 
plishments as other Korean women lack, and which will 
ensure their attractiveness, such as playing on various 
musical instruments, singing, dancing, reading, reciting, 
writing, and fancy work. As their destiny is to make 
time pass agreeably for men of the upper classes, this 
amount of education is essential, though a Korean does 
not care how blank and undeveloped the mind of his wife 
is. The gesang are always elegantly dressed, as they were 
when they came to see me, even through the mud of 
the Phyong-yang streets, and as they have not known 
seclusion, their manners with both sexes have a graceful 
ease. Their dancing, like that pf most Oriental countries, 
consists chiefly of posturing, and is said by those foreigners 
who have seen it to be perfectly free from impropriety. 

Dr. Allen, Secretary to the U.S. Legation at Seoul, in 
a paper in the Korean Repository for 1886, describes 
among the dances which speciaUy interest foreigners at 
the entertainments at the Boyal Palace one known as the 
" Lotus Dance." In this, he writes, " A tub is brought in 
containing a large lotus flower just ready to burst open. 
Two imitation storks then come in, each one being a man 
very cleverly disguised. These birds flap their wings, 
snap their beaks, and dance round in admiration of 
the beautiful bud which they evidently intend to pluck 
as soon as they have enjoyed it sufl&ciently in anticipation. 
Their movements all this time are very graceful, and they 
come closer and closer to the flower keeping time to the 



166 CHBISTIAN MISSIONS ohap. 

soft music. At last the proper times arrives, the flower 
is plucked, when, as the pink petals fall back, out steps a 
little gesaTig to the evident amazement of the birds, and to 
the intense delight of the younger spectators." 

The Sword and Dragon dances are also extremely 
popular, and on great occasions the performance is never 
complete without " Throwing the Ball," which consists in 
a series of graceful arm movements before a painted arch, 
after which the gemng march in procession before the Eling, 
and the successful dancers receive presents. 

Though the most beautiful and attractive gesang 
come from Phyong-yang, they are found throughout the 
country. From the King down to the lowest official who 
can afford the luxury, the presence of gesang is regarded 
at every entertainment as indispensable to the enjoyment 
of the guests. They appear at official dinners at the 
Foreign Office, and at the palace are the chief entertainers,, 
and sing and dance at the many parties which are given 
by Koreans at the picnic resorts near Seoul, and though 
attached to the prefectures, and various other departments, 
may be hired by gentlemen to give fascination to their 
feasts. 

Their training and non- secluded position place them, 
however, outside of the reputable classes, and though in 
Japan geishas often become the wives of nobles and even 
of statesmen, no Korean man would dream of raising a 
gesang to such a position. 

Dr. Allen, who has had special opportunities of becom- 
ing acquainted with the inner social life of Korea, says 
that they are the source of much heart-burning to the 
legal but neglected wife, who in no case is the wife of her 



XXX THE SWALLOW KIN€PS REWARDS 167 

husband's choice, and that Korean folklore abounds with 
stories of discord arising in families from attachments to 
gesang, and of ardent and prolonged devotion on the part 
of young noblemen to these girls, whom they are prevented 
from marrying by rigid custom. There is a Korean 
tale called The Sioallow King's Rewards in which a 
man is visited with the "ten plagues of Korea" for 
maltreating a wounded swallow, and in it gesang are 
represented along with mu-tang as " among the ten curses 
of the land." 

Dr. Allen, to whom I owe this fact, writes, " Doubtless 
they are so considered by many a lonely wife, as well as 
by the fathers who mourn to see their sons wasting their 
substance in riotous living, as they doubtless did them- 
selves when they were young." 

The house in which I had quarters was much resorted 
to by merchants for whom my host transacted brokerage 
business, and entertainments were the order of the day. 
Mr. Yi was mvited to dinner daily, and on the last 
evening entertained all who had invited him. Such meals 
cost per head as much as a dinner at the St. James's 
Eestaurant! Noise seems essential to these gatherings. 
The men shout at the top of their voices. 

There is an enormous amount of visiting and entertain- 
ing among men in the cities. Some public men keep open 
house, giving their servants as much as S60 a day for 
the entertainment of guests. Men who are in easy 
circumstances go continually from one house to another to 
kill time. They never talk politics, it is too dangerous, 
but retail the latest gossip of the court or city and the 
witticisms attributed to great men, and tell, hear, and 



168 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS chap. 

invent news. The front rooms of houses in which the 
men live are open freely to all comers. In some circles, 
though it is said to a far less extent than formerly, men 
meet and talk over what we should call ''questions of 
literary criticism," compare poetic compositions, the 
ability to compose a page of poetry being the grand 
result of Korean education, and discuss the meaning 
of celebrated works — all literature being in Chinese. 

The common people meet in the streets, the house 
fronts, and the inns. They ask each other endless ques- 
tions, of a nature that we should think most impertinent, 
regarding each other's business, work, and money trans- 
actions, and for the latest news. It is every man's 
business to hear or create all the news he can. What he 
hears he embellishes by lies and exaggerations. Korea 
is the country of wild rumours. What a Korean knows, 
or rather hears, he tells. According to P^re Dallet, he 
does not know the meaning of reserve, though he is utterly 
devoid of frankness. Men live in company in each other's 
houses. Domestic life is unknown. The women in the 
inner rooms receive female visitors, and the girl children 
are present. The boys at a very early age are removed to 
the men's apartments, where they learn from the conversa- 
tion they hear that every man who respects himself must 
regard women with contempt. 

We left Phyong-yang for Po-san in a very small boat 
in which six people and their luggage were uncomfortably 
packed and cramped. One of the two boatmen was liter- 
ally "down with fever," but with one and the strong 
ebb-tide we accomplished 20 miles in six hours, and were 
well pleased to find the Hariong lying at anchor, as we had 



XXX HISTORICAL JOTTINGS 169 

not been able to get any definite information concerning her, 
and I never believed in her till I saw her. The Tai-dong 
has some historic interest, for up its broad waters sailed 
Ki-ja or Kit-ze with his army of 5000 men on the way to 
found Phyong-yang and Korean civilisation, and down it 
fled Ki-jun, the last king of the first dynasty, from the 
forces of Wei-man descending from the north. Phyong- 
yang impressed me as it did Consul Carles with its natural 
suitability for commerce, and this Tai-dong, navigable up 
to the city for small junks, is the natural outlet for beans 
and cotton, some of which find their way to Newchwang 
for shipment, for the rich iron ore which lies close to the 
river-banks at Kai-chhon, for the gold of Keum San only 
20 miles off, for the abounding coal of the immediate 
neighbourhood, for the hides, which are now carried on 
men's backs to Chemulpo, and for the products of what is 
said to be a considerable silk industry. 

In going down the river something is seen of the 
original size of Phyong-yang, for the " earth wall " on solid 
masonry, built, it is said, by Eit-ze 3000 years ago, follows 
the right bank of the Tai-dong for about four miles before 
it turns away to the north, to terminate at the foot of the 
hill on which is the reputed grave of its builder. This 
extends in that direction possibly three miles beyond the 
present wall. 

The plain through which the river runs is fertile and 
well cultivated, though the shining mud flats at low tide 
are anything but prepossessing. Various rivers, enabling 
boats of light draught to penetrate the country, most of them 
rising in the picturesque mountain ranges which descend 
on the plain, specially on its western side, join the Tai-dong. 



170 THE TRANSPORT H AMONG chap 

Much had been said of the Hariong. I was told I 
" should be all right if I could get the Hariong I* that " the 
Rariong's a most comfortable little boat — she has ten 
state-rooms," and as we approached her in the mist, very 
wet, and stiff from the length of time spent in a cramped 
position, I conjured up visions of comfort and even luxury 
which were not to be realised. 

She was surrounded by Japanese junks, Japanese 
soldiers crowded her gangways, and Japanese ofl&cers were 
directing the loading. We hooked on to the junks and 
lay in the rain for an hour, nobody taking the slightest 
notice of us. Mr. Yi then scrambled on board and there 
was another half-hour's delay, which took us into the early 
darkness. He reappeared, saying there was no cabin and we 
must go on shore. But there was no place to sleep on shore 
and it was the last steamer, so I climbed on board and Im 
hurried in the baggage. It was raining and blowing, and 
we were huddled on the wet deck like steerage passengers, 
Japanese soldiers and commissariat of&cers there, as else- 
where in Korea, masters of the situation. Mr. Ti was 
frantic that he, a Government ofi&cial, and one from whom 
"the Japanese had to ask a hundred favours a month," 
should be treated with such indignity! The vessel was 
hired by the Japanese commissariat department to go to 
Nagasaki, calling at Chemulpo, and we were really, though 
unintentionally, interlopers ! 

There was truly no room for me, and the arrangement 
whereby I received shelter was essentially Japanese. I 
lived in a minute saloon with the commissariat ofScers, 
and fed precariously, Im dealing out to me, at long intervals, 
the remains of a curry which he had had the forethought 



AN ASIATIC TRANSPORT 



171 



to bring. There was a Korean purser, but the poor dazed 
fellow was "nowhere," being totally superseded by a brisk 
young mannikin who, in the intervals of business, came to 
me, note-book in hand, that I might hel^ him to enlarge 
his English vocabulary. The only sign of vitality that the 
limp, displaced purser showed was to exclaim with energy 
more than once, " I hate these Japanese, they've taken our 
own ships." 

Fortunately the sea was quite still, and the weather 
was dry and fine ; even Ton-yiing Pa-da, a disagreeable 
stretch of ocean off the Whang Hal coast, was quiet, the 
halt of nearly a day off the new treaty port of Chin-nam-po 
where the mud fiats extend far out from the shore, was 
not disagreeable, and we reached the familiar harbour 
of Chemulpo by a glorious sunset on the frosty evening 
of the third day from Po-san, the voyage in a small 
Asiatic transport having turned out better than could 
have been expected. 



1 

5eoul to — 

Ko-yang . 
Pa Ju . 


[TINKKATt 

• • 


Y 




Li. 

. 40 
40 


0-mok 








40 


Ohur-chuk Kio 








30 


Song-do 
O-hung-suk Ju 
Kun-ko Eai 








10 
. 30 
. 30 


Tol Maru 








35 


An-shung-pa Pal 
Shur-hung 
Hung-shou Wan 
Pong-san . 








25 
30 
30 
40 



Whang Ju 
Kur-monn Tari 
Chi-dol-pa Pal . 

Phyong-yanf; 
Mori-ko Kai 
Liang-yang Chang 
Cba-san . 
Sliou-yang Yi 
Ha-kai Oil 
Ka Chang 
Hu-ok Kuri 
Tok Chhbn 
Shiir-chong 
An-kil Yung 
ShU-yi . 
Mou-chio Tai 
Sun Chhon 
Cha-san . 
Siang-yang Chhou 
An-chin Miriok 
Phyong-yang 



Total land jouraey 



CHAPTEE XXXI 

THE ** top-knot" — THE KOREAN HEGIRA 

The year 1896 opened for Korea in a gloom as profound 
as that in which the previous year had closed. There 
were small insurrections in all quarters, various ofi&cials 
were killed, and some of the rebels threatened to march 
on the capital. Japanese influence declined, Japanese 
troops were gradually withdrawn from the posts they had 
occupied, the engagements of many of the Japanese ad- 
visers and controllers in departments expired and were not 
renewed, some of the reforms instituted by Japan during 
the period of her ascendency died a natural death, there 
was a distinctly retrograde movement, and government 
was disintegrating all over the land. 

The general agitation in the country and several of the 
more serious of the outbreaks had a cause which, while to 
our thinking it is ludicrous, shows as much as anything 
else the intense conservatism of pung-hok or custom which 
prevails among the Koreans. The cause was an attack 
on the " Top-Knot " by a Eoyal Edict on 30th December 
1895 ! This set the country aflame ! The Koreans, who 
had borne on the whole quietly the ascendency of a hated 



176 THE " TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap. 

boy rises up a man.^ The new man bows to each of his 
relations in regular order, beginning with his grandfather, 
kneelmg and placing his hands, pahns downward, on the 
floor, and resting his forehead for a moment upon them. 

He then ofifers sacrifices to his deceased ancestors 
before the ancestral tablets, lighted candles in high brass 
candlesticks being placed on each side of the bowls of 
sacrificial food or fruit, and, bowing profoundly, acquaints 
them with the important fact that he has assumed the 
Top-Knot. Afterwards he calls on the adult male friends 
of his family, who for the first time receive him as an 
equal, and at night there is a feast in his honour in his 
father's house, to which all the family friends who have 
attained to the dignity of Top-Knots are invited. 

The hat is made of fine "crinoline" so that the Top- 
Knot may be seen very plainly through it, and weighs only 
an ounce and a half It is a source of ceaseless anxiety 
to the Korean. If it gets wet it is ruined, so that he 
seldom ventures to stir abroad without a waterproof cover 
for it in his capacious sleeve, and it is so easily broken and 
crushed, that when not in use it must be kept or carried 
in a wooden box, usually much decorated, as obnoxious in 
transit as a lady's band-box. The keeping on the hat is a 
mark of respect. Court of&cials appear in the sovereign's 
presence with their hats on, and the Korean only takes it 
off in the company of his most intimate friends. The 
mang-kun is a fixture. The Top-Knot is often decorated 
with a bead of jade, amber, or turquoise, and some of the 
young swells wear expensive tortoise-shell combs as its 

^ In chapter ix. p. 129, there is a short notice of what is inTolred 
in the traniformation. 



XXXI THE TOP-KNOT EDICTS 177 

ornaments. There is no other single article of male 
equipment that I am aware of which plays so important 
a part, or is regarded with such reverence, or is clung to 
so tenaciously, as the Korean Top-Knot. 

On an " institution " so venerated and time-honoured, 
and so bound up with Korean nationality (for the Korean, 
though remarkably destitute of true patriotism, has a 
strongly national instinct), the decree of the 30th of 
December 1895, practically abolishing the Top-Knot, fell 
like a thunderbolt. The measure had been advocated 
before, chiefly by Koreans who had been in America, and 
was known to have Japanese support, and had been dis- 
cussed by the Cabinet, but the change was regarded with 
such disgust by the nation at large that the Government 
was afraid to enforce it. Only a short time before the 
decree was issued, three chief ofl&cers of the Kun-ren-tai 
entered the Council Chamber with drawn swords, demand- 
ing the instantaneous issue of an edict making it com- 
pulsory on every man in Government employment to have 
his hair cropped, and the Ministers, terrified for their lives, 
all yielded but one, and he succeeded for the time in 
getting the issue of it delayed till after the Queen's funeraL 
Very shortly afterwards, however, the King, practically a 
prisoner, was compelled to endorse it, and he, the Crown 
Prince, the Tai-Won-Kun, and the Cabinet were divested 
of their Top-Knots, the soldiers and police following suit. 

The following day the Offi/iial Gazette promulgated adecree, 
endorsed by the King, announcing that he had cut his hair 
short, and calling on all his subjects, of&cials and common 
people alike, to follow his example and identify themselves 
with the spirit of progress which had induced His Majesty 

VOL. II N 



178 THE "TOP-KNOT"— THE KOREAN HEOIBA chap. 

to take this step, and thus place his countiy on a footing 
of equality with the other nations of the world ! 
The Home Office notifications were as follows : — 

Tratulation 

The present cropping of the hair being a meaBore both advan- 
tageons to the preservation of health and convenient for the tiana- 
action of business, our sacred Lord the Kin^ having in view both 
aflministrative reform and national aggrandisement, has, by taking 
the lead in his own person, set ns an example. All the mbjeets of 
Great Korea should respectfully conform to His Miyesty's purpose, 
and the fashion of their clothing should be as set forth below : — 

1. During national mourning the hat and clothing should, until 
the expiration of the term of mourning, be white in colour as before. 

2. The fillet {mcmg-hm) should be abandoned. 

3. There is no objection to the adoption of foreign clothing. 

(Signed) Yu-kil Chun, 

Acting Home Miwider. 
11th moon, 15th day. 

No. 2 

In the Proclamation which His Majesty graciously issued to-day 
(11th moon, 16th day) are words, "We, in cutting Our hair, are 
setting an example to Our subjects. Do you, the multitude, 
identify yourselves with Our design, and cause to be accomplished 
the great work of establishing equality with the nations of the 
earth." 

At a time of reform such as this, when we humbly peruse so 
spirited a proclamation, among all of us subjects of Qreat Korea 
who does not weep for gratitude, and strive his utmost) Earnestly 
united in heart and mind, we earnestly expect a humble conformity 
with His Majesty's purposes of reformation. 

(Signed) Yu-kil Chun, 

Acting Home MiniUer. 

504th year since the founding of the Dynasty, 
11th moon, 15 th day. 



XXXI TOP-KNOT RIOTS 179 

Among the reasons which rendered the Top -Knot 
decree detestable to the people were, that priests and 
monks, who, instead of being held in esteem, are regarded 
generally as a nuisance to be tolerated, wear their hair closely 
cropped, and the Edict was believed to be an attempt in- 
stigated by Japan to compel Koreans to look like Japanese, 
and adopt Japanese customs. So strong was the popular 
belief that it was to Japan that Korea owed the denation- 
alising order, that in the many places where there were 
Top-Knot Eiots it was evidenced by overt acts of hostility 
to the Japanese, frequently resulting in murder. 

The rural districts were convulsed. Ofl&cials even of 
the highest rank found themselves on the horns of a 
dilemma. If they cut their hair, they were driven from 
their lucrative posts by an infuriated populace, and in 
several instances lost their lives, while if they retained 
the Top-Knot they were dismissed by the Cabinet. In one 
province, on the arrival from Seoul of a newly-appointed 
mandarin with cropped hair, he was met by a great con- 
course of people ready for the worst, who informed him 
that they had hitherto been ruled by a Korean man, and 
would not endure a "Monk Magistrate," on which he 
prudently retired to the capital 

All through the land there were Top-Knot complexities 
and difficulties. Countrymen, merchants. Christian cate- 
chists, and others, who had come to Seoul on business, and 
had been shorn, dared not risk their lives by returning to 
their homes. Wood and country produce did not come 
in, and the price of the necessaries of life rose seriously. 
Many men who prized the honour of entering the Palace 
gates at the New Year feigned illness, but were sent for 



180 THE « TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap. 

and denuded of their hair. The click of the shears was 
heard at every gate in Seoul, at the Palace, and at the 
official residences ; even servants were not exempted, and 
some of the Foreign Representatives were unable to 
present themselves at the Palace on New Year's Day, 
because their chairmen were unwilling to meet the shears. 
A father poisoned himself from grief and humiliation 
because his two sons had submitted to the decree. 
The foundations of social order were threatened when the 
Top-Knot fell ! 

People who had had their hair cropped did not dare to 
venture far from Seoul lest they should be exposed to the 
violence of the rural population. At Chun Ghhon, 50 
miles from the capital, when the Governor tried to en- 
force the ordinance, the people rose en masse and murdered 
him and his whole establishment, afterwards taking pos- 
session of the town and surrounding country. As police- 
men with their shears were at the Seoul gates to enforce 
the decree on incomers, and peasants who had been cropped 
on arriving did not dare to return to their homes, prices 
rose so seriously by the middle of January 1896, that 
" trouble " in the capital was expected, and another order 
was issued that " country folk were to be let alone at that 
time." 

Things went from bad to worse, till on the 11th of 
February 1896 the whole Far East was electrified by a 
sensational telegram — "The King of Korea has escaped 
from his Palace, and is at the Eussian Legation." 

On that morning the King and Crown Prince in the 
dim daybreak left the Kyeng-pok Palace in closed box 
chairs, such as are used by the Palace waiting-women^ 



XXXI A ROYAL PROCLAMATION 181 

passed through the gates without being suspected by the 
sentries, and reached the Eussian Legation, the King pale 
and trembling as he entered the spacious suite of apart- 
ments which for more than a year afterwards offered him 
a secure asylum. The Palace ladies who arranged the 
escape had kept their counsel well, and had caused a 
number of chairs to go in and out of the gates early and 
late during the previous week, so that the flight failed to 
attract any attention. As the King does much of his 
work at night and retires to rest in the early morning, the 
ever -vigilant Cabinet, his gaolers, supposed him to be 
asleep, and it was not until several hours later that his 
whereabouts became known, when the organisation of a 
new Cabinet was progressing, and Korean dignitaries 
began to be summoned into the Eoyal presence. 

The King, on gaining security, at once reassumed his 
long-lost prerogatives, which have never since been curbed 
in the slightest degree. The irredeemable Orientalism of 
the twoToUowing proclamations .hich were posted over 
the city within a few hours of his escape warrants their 
insertion in full : — 

ROTAL PROCLAMATtON 

Tramlation 

Alas I alas ! on account of Our unworthiness and mal-adminis- 
tration the wicked advanced and the wise retired. Of the last ten 
years, none has passed without troubles. Some were brought on 
by those We had trusted as the members of the body, while others, 
by those of Our own bone and flesh. Our dynasty of five centuries 
has thereby been often endangered, and millions of Our subjects 
have thereby been gradually impoverished. These facts make Us 
blush and sweat for shame. But these troubles have been brought 



182 THE « TOP-KNOT ''—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap. 

about through Our partiality and self-will, giving rise to rascality 
and blunders leading to calamities. All have been Our own £Biult 
from the first to the last. 

Fortunately, through loyal and faithful subjects rising up in 
righteous efforts to remove the wicked, there is a hope that the 
tribulations experienced may invigorate the State, and that calm 
may return after the storm. This accords with the principle that 
human nature will have freedom after a long pressure, and that 
the ways of Heaven bring success after reverses. We shall en- 
deavour to be merciful. No pardon, however, shall be extended to 
the principal traitors concerned in the afifairs of July 1894 and 
of October 1895. Capital punishment should be their due, thus 
venting the indignation of men and gods alike. But to all the 
rest, officials or soldiers, citizens or coolies, a general amnesty, free 
and full, is granted, irrespective of the degree of their offences. 
Reform your hearts ; ease your minds ; go about your business, 
public or private, as in times past. 

As to the cutting of the Top-Knots — what can We say 1 Is it 
such an urgent matter ? The traitors, by using force and coercion, 
brought about the affair. That this measure was taken against Our 
will is, no doubt, well known to all. Nor is it Our vrish that the 
conservative subjects throughout the country, moved to righteous 
indignation, should rise up, as they have, circulating false rumours, 
causing death and injury to one another, until the re^lar troops 
had to be sent to suppress the disturbances by force. The traitors 
indulged their poisonous nature in everything. Fingers and hairs 
would fail to count their crimes. The soldiers are Our children. 
So are the insurgents. Cut any of the ten fingers, and one would 
cause as much pain as another. Fighting long continued would 
pour out blood and heap up corpses, hindering communications 
and traffic Alas ! if this continues the people will all die^ The 
mere contemplation of such consequences provokes Our tears and 
chills Our heart. We desire that as soon as orders arrive the 
soldiers should return to Seoul and the insurgents to their respective 
places and occupations. 

As to the cutting of Top-Knots, no one shall be forced as to dress 
and hats. Do as you please. The evils now afflicting the people 



XXXI KOREAN BRUTALITIES 183 

shall be duly attended to by the Qovemment This is Our own 
word of honour. Let all understand. 

By order of His Majesty, 

(Signed) Pak-chung Yang, 

Acting Home and Prime Minister, 

11th day, 2nd moon, 1st year of Eon-yang. 

Proclamation to the Soldibbs 

On account of the unhappy fate of Our country, traitors have 
made trouble every year. Now We have a document informing us 
of another conspiracy. We have therefore come to the Russian 
Legation. The Representatives of different countries have all 
assembled. 

Soldiers ! come and protect us. You are Our children. The 
troubles of the past were due to the crimes of chief traitors. You 
are all pardoned, and shall not be held answerable. Do your 
duty and be at ease. When you meet the chief traitors, viz. Cho- 
hui Yen, Wu-pom Sun, Yi-tu Hwong, Yi-pom Nai, Yi-chin Ho, 
and Eon-yong Chin, cut off their heads at once, and bring them. 

You (soldiers) attend us at the Russian Legation. 

11th day, 2nd moon, 1st year of Eon-yang. 

Royal Sign. 

Following on this, on the same day, and while thousands 
of people were reading the repeal of the hair-cropping 
order, those of the Cabinet who could be caught were 
arrested and beheaded in the street — the Prime Minister, 
who had kept his place in several Cabinets, and the 
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. The mob, in- 
furiated, and r^arding the Premier as the author of the 
downfall of the Top-Knot, gave itself up to unmitigated 
savagery, insulting and mutilating the dead bodies in a 
manner absolutely fiendish. Another of the Cabinet was 
rescued by Japanese soldiers, and the other traitorous 
members ran away. A Cabinet, chiefly new, was installed, 



184 THE « TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap. 

prison doors were opened, and the inmates, guilty and 
innocent alike, were released, strict orders were given by 
the King that the Japanese were to be protected, one 
having already fallen a victim to the fury of the populace, 
and before night fell on Seoul much of the work of the 
previous six months had been undone, and the Top-Knot 
had triumphed.^ 

How the Korean King, freed from the strong influence 
of the Queen and the brutal control of his mutinous 
officers, used his freedom need not be told here. It was 
supposed just after his escape that he would become " a 
mere tool in the hands of the Eussian Minister," but so 
far was this from being the case, that before a year had 
passed it was greatly desired by many that Mr. Waeber 
would influence him against the bad in statecraft and in 
favour of the good, and the cause of his determination 
not to bias the King in any way remains a mystery to 
this day. 

The roads which led to the Eussian Legation were 
guarded by Korean soldiers, but eighty Eussian marines 
were quartered in the compound and held the gates, while 
a small piece of artillery was very much en Evidence on the 
terrace below the King's windows ! He had an abundant 
entourage. For some months the Cabinet occupied the 
ball-room, and on the terrace and round the King's apart- 
ments there were always numbers of Court officials and 
servants of all grades, eunuchs, Palace women, etc., while 
the favourites, the ladies Om and Pak, who assisted in his 
escape, were constantly to be seen in his vicinity. 

^ When I last saw the King this national adornment seemed to have 
resumed its former proportions. 



XXXI THE QUEEN'S REMAINS 186 

Eevelling in the cheerfulness and security of his 
surroundings, the King shortly built a Palace (to which he 
removed in the spring of 1897), surrounding the tablet- 
house of the Queen, and actually in Chong-dong, the 
European quarter, its grounds adjoining those of the 
English and U.S. Legations. To the security of this 
tablet-house the remains of the Queen, supposed to 
consist only of the bones of one finger, were removed 
on a lucky day chosen by the astrologers with much 
pomp. 

On this occasion a guard of eighty Eussian soldiers occu- 
pied a position close to the Boyal tent, not far from one in 
which the Foreign Eepresentatives, with the noteworthy 
exception of the Japanese Envoy, were assembled. 
Eolled-up scroll portraits of the five immediate ancestors 
of the King, each enclosed in a large oblong palanquin 
of gilded fretwork, and preceded by a crowd of ofl5cials 
in old Court costume, filed past the Eoyal tent, where 
the King did obeisance, and the Eussian Guard pre- 
sented arms. This was only the first part of the 
ceremony. 

Later a colossal catafalque, containing the fragmentary 
remains of the murdered Queen, was dragged through 
the streets from the Kyeng-pok Palace by 700 men in 
sackcloth, preceded and followed by a crowd of Court 
functionaries, also in mourning, and escorted by Korean 
drilled troops. The King and Crown Prince received the 
procession at the gate of the new Kyeng-wun Palace, and 
the hearse, after being hauled up to the end of a long 
platform outside the Spirit Shrine, was tracked by ropes 
(for no hand might touch it) to the interior, where it rested 



186 THE « TOP-KNOT "—THE KOREAN HEGIRA chap. 

under a canopy of white silk, and for more than a year 
received the customary rites and sacrifices from the 
bereaved husband and son. The large crowd in the streets 
was orderly and silent. The ceremony was remarkable 
both for the revival of picturesque detail and of practices 
which it was supposed had become obsolete, such as the 
supporting of officials on their ponies by retainers, or when 
on foot by having their arms propped up. ^ 

In July 1896, Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown, LL.D., Chief 
Commissioner of Customs, received by Eoyal decree the 
absolute control of all payments out of the Treasury, 
and having gained considerable insight into the com- 
plexities of financial corruption, addressed hunself in 
earnest to the reform of abuses, and with most beneficial 
results. 

In September a Council of State of fourteen members 
was substituted for the Cabinet of Ministers organised 
imder Japanese auspices, a change which was to some 
extent a return to old methods. 

Many of the attempts made by the Japanese during their 
ascendency to reform abuses were allowed to lapse. The 
country was unsettled, a "Eighteous Army" having re- 
placed the Tong-haks. The Minister of the Household 
and other Eoyal favourites resumed the practice of selling 
provincial and other posts in a most unblushing manner 
after the slight checks which had been imposed on this 
most deleterious custom, and the sovereign himself, whose 
Civil List is ample, appropriated public moneys for his own 
purposes, while, finding himself personally safe, and free 
from Japanese or other control, he reverted in many ways 
to the traditions of his dynasty, and in spite of attempted 



XXXI JAPAN AND RUSSIA 187 

checks upon his authority, reigned as an absolute monarch 
— his edicts law, his will absolute. Meanwhile Japan was 
gradually eifacing herself or being efifaced, and whatever 
influence she lost in Korea, Russia gained, but the 
advantages of the change were not obvious. 



CHAPTEE XXXII 



THE REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT^ 



The old system of Government in Korea, which, with but 
a few alterations and additions, prevailed from the founding 
of the present dynasty until the second half of 1894, was 
modelled on that of the Ming Emperors of China. The 
King was absolute as well in practice as in theory, but to 
assist him in governing there was a Eui-chyeng Pu, 
commonly translated Cabinet, composed of a so-called 
Premier, and Senior and Junior Ministers of State, under 
whom were Senior and Junior Chief Secretaries, and Senior 
and Junior Assistant Secretaries, with certain minor func- 
tionaries, the Govemmtot being conducted through Boards 
as in China, viz. Civil Office, Eevenue, Ceremonies, War, 
Punishment, and Works, to which were added, after the 
opening of the country to foreigners. Foreign and Home 

^ The chapters on the Reorganised Korean Government — Education, 
Trade, and Finance — and Dsemonism are intended to aid in the intelligent 
understanding of those which precede them. The reader who wishes 
to go into the subject of the old and the reorganised systems of Korean 
Government will find a mass of curious and deeply-interesting detaU in a 
volume entitled Korean Oovemment, by W. H. Wilkinson, Esq., lately 
H.6.M.'s Acting Vice-Consul at Chemulpo, published by the Statistical 
Department of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs at Shanghai in 
March 1897. To it I am rery greatly indebted. 



CHAP. XXXII OFFICIAL ABUSES 189 

Offices. During the present reign the Home Office, under the 
Presidency of a powerful and ambitious cousin of the Queen, 
Min Yeng-chyun, began to draw to itself all administrative 
power, while Her Majesty's and his relations, who occupied 
the chief positions throughout the country, fleeced the people 
without restraint. Of the remaining offices which were 
seated in the Metropolis the chief were the Correctional 
Tribunal, an office of the first rank which took cognisance 
of the offences of officials, and the Prefecture of Seoul 
which had charge of all municipal matters. 

Korea was divided into eight Provinces, each under 
the control of a Governor, aided by a Civil and Military 
Secretary. Magistrates of different grades according to the 
size of the magistracies were appointed under him, five 
fortress cities, however, being independent of provincial 
jurisdiction. The principal tax, the land-tax, was paid in 
kind, and the local governments had very considerable 
control over the local revenues. There were provincial 
military and naval forces with large staffs of officers, and 
Boards, Offices, and Departments innumerable under 
Government, each with its legion of supernumeraries. 

The country was eaten up by officialism. It is not only 
that abuses without number prevailed, but the whole system 
of Government was an abuse, a sea of corruption without 
a bottom or a shore, an engine of robbery, crushing the 
life out of all industry. Offices and justice were bought 
and sold like other commodities, and Government was fast 
decaying, the one principle which survived being its right 
to prey on the governed. 

The new order of things, called by the Japanese the " Ee- 
formation," dates from the forcible occupation of the Kyeng- 



190 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT ohap. 

pok Palace by Japanese troops on the 23rd of July 1894. 
The constitutional changes which have subsequently been 
promulgated (though not always carried out) were initiated 
by the Japanese Minister in Seoul, and reduced to detail 
by the Japanese "advisers" who shortly arrived; and 
Japan is entitled to the credit of having attempted to 
cope with and remedy the manifold abuses of the Korean 
system, and of having bequeathed to the country the lines 
on which reforms are now being carried out. It was 
natural, and is certainly not blameworthy, that the 
Japanese had in view the assimilation of Korean polity to 
that of Japan. 

To bring about the desired reorganisation, Mr. Otori, ut 
that time the Japanese Minister, induced the King to 
create an Assembly, which, whatever its ultimate destiny, 
was to.form meanwhile a Department for ''the discussion 
of all matters grave and trivial within the realm." The 
Prime Minister was its President, and the number of its 
members was limited to twenty Councillors. A noteworthy 
feature in connection with it was that it invited suggestions 
from outsiders in the form of written memoranda. 

It met for the first time on the 30th of July 1894, and for 
the last on the 29th of October of thesame year. It wasfound 
impossible, either by payment or Eoyal orders, to secure a 
quorum ; and after the Vice-Minister of Justice, one of the 
few Councillors who took an active part in the proceedings, 
was murdered two days after the last meeting, as was 
believed, by an agent of the reactionary party, it practically 
expired, and was dissolved by Boyal Decree on the 17th of 
December 1894, and a reconstituted Privy Council took its 
place. Those of its Sesolutions however, which had 



xxxn THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE 191 

received the Eoyal assent became law, and unless repealed 
or superseded are still binding. 

These Eesolutions appeared in the Government Gazette, 
an institution of very old standing, imitated, like most 
things else, from China. This was prepared by the Court 
of Transmission, a Palace Department, the senior members 
of which formed the channel of commimication between 
the King and the oflBcial body at large, and who, while 
other high oflBcials could only reach the throne by means 
of personal memorials or written memoranda, were privi- 
leged to address the King viva voce, and through whom as 
a rule his commands were issued. Each dajr this Depart- 
ment collected the various memoranda and memorials, the 
Boyal replies and the lists of appointments, copies of which 
when edited by it formed the Gazette, which was famished 
in MS. to oflBcials throughout the kingdom. The Eoyal 
Edicts when published in this paper became law in Korea. 

In July 1894 Mr. Otori made the useful innovation of 
publishing the Gazette in clear type, and in the following 
January it appeared in a mixture of Chinese hieroglyphs 
and En-mun, the " vulgar script " of Korea, and became 
intelligible to the common people. No special change 
was made at that time, except that the Eesolutions of 
the Deliberative Assembly were included in it. Later 
changes have assimilated it farther to the Government 
Gazette of Japan, and it has gained rather than lost in 
importance. Gradually a diminution of the power of the 
Court of Transmission began to show itself. Its name 
was changed to the Eeceiving Oflfice, and members of the 
Cabinet and the Correctional Tribunal began to enjoy 
direct access to the King. In April 1895 a farther 



192 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap. 

change in a Japanese direction, and one of great signifi- 
cance in Korean estimation, was made, the date of the 
Gazette being given thus : — 

" No. 1. — 504th year of the Dynasty, 4th moon, 1st day. 
Wood-day." ^ 

Two months later farther changes in the official Gazette 
were annoimced, and the programme then put forward 
has been adhered to, paving the way for many of the 
changes which have followed. It is difficult to make the 
importance of the Gazette intelligible, except to foreigners 
who have resided in China and Korea. The reason for 
dwelling so long upon it is, that for several centuries the 
publication in it of Eoyal Edicts has given them the force 
of law and the currency of Acts of Parliament. 

In the pages which foUow a brief summary is given of 
the outlines of the scheme for the reorganisation of the 
Korean Grovemment, which was prepared for the most 
part by the Japanese advisers, honorary and salaried, who 
have been engaged on the task since 1894, and which has 
been accepted by the King. 

The first change raised the status of the King and the 
Soyal Family to that of the Imperial Family of China. 
After this, it was enacted, following on the King's Oath of 
January 1895, that the Queen and Royal Family were no 
longer to interfere in the affairs of State, and that His 
Majesty would govern by the advice of a Cabinet, and 
sign all ordinances to which his assent is given. The 
Cabinet, which was, at least nominally, located in the 

^ Wood-day is the term adopted by the Japanese for Thursday, their 
week, which has now been imposed on the Koreans, being Sun-day, 
Moon-day, Fire-day, Water-day, Woml-day, Metal-day, and Earth-day. 



XXXII THE COUNCIL OF STATE 193 

Palace, had two aspects — a Council of State, and a State 
Department, presided over by the Premier. 

As THE Council of State 

The members of the Cabinet or Ministers of State were 
the Premier, the Home Minister, the Minister for Foreign 
Afifaira, the Finance Minister, the War Minister, the 
Minister of Education, the Minister of Justice, and the 
Minister of Agriculture, Trade, and Industry. A Foreign 
Adviser is supposed to be attached to each of the seven 
Departments. 

Ministers in Council were empowered to consider — the 
framing of laws and ordinances ; estimates and balance- 
sheets of yearly revenue and expenditure; public debt, 
domestic and foreign ; international treaties and important 
conventions; disputes as to the respective jurisdictions of 
Ministers ; such personal memorials as His Majesty might 
send down to them; supplies not included in the esti- 
mates; appointments and promotions of high officials, 
other than legal or military ; the retention, abolition, or 
alteration of old customs; abolition or institution of 
offices, and, without reference to their special relations to 
any one Ministry, their reconstruction or amendment; 
the imposition of new taxes or their alteration; and 
the control and management of public lands, forests, 
buildings, and vessels. All ordinances after being signed 
and sealed by the King required the countersign of the 
Premier. 

The second function of the Cabinet as a Department of 
State it is needless to go into. 

A Privy Council was established at the close of 1894 

VOL. II 



194 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap. 

to take the place of the Deliberative Assembly which had 
collapsed, and is now empowered^ when consulted by 
the Cabinet, to inquire into and pass resolutions con- 
cerning — 

I. The framing of laws and ordinances. 

II. Questions which may from time to time be referred 
to it by the Cabinet. 

The Council consists of a President, Vice-President, 
not more than fifty Councillors, two Secretaries, and four 
Clerks. The Councillors are appointed by the Crown on 
the recommendation of the Premier, and must either be 
men of rank, or those who have done good service to the 
State, or are experts in politics, law, or economica The 
Privy Council is prohibited from having any correspond- 
ence on public matters with private individuals, or with 
any oflBcials but Ministers and Vice -Ministers. The 
President presides. Two-thirds of the members must be 
present to form a quorum. Votes are given openly, 
resolutions are carried by a majority, and any Councillor 
dissenting from a resolution so carried has a right to have 
his reasons recorded in the minutes. 

In the autumn of 1896 some important changes were 
made. A Decree of the 24th of September condenmed in 
strong language the action of " disorderly rebels, who some 
three years ago revolutionised the Constitution," and 
changed the name of the King's advising body. The decree 
ordained that the old name, translated Council of State, 
"should be restored, and declared that new regulations 
would be issued, which, while adhering to ancient prin- 
ciples, would confirm such of the enactments of the 
previous three years as in the King's judgment were for 



XXXII RETROGRESSION 195 

the public good." The Council of State was organised by 
the first ordinance of a new series, and the preamble, as 
well as one at least of the sections, marks a distinctly 
retrograde movement and a reversion to the absolutism 
renounced in the King's Oath of Janucuy 1895.* It is dis- 
tinctly stated that '' any motion debated at the Council 
may receive His Majesty's assent, without regard to the 
number of votes in its favour, by virtue of the Boyal 
prerogative; or, should the debates on any motion not 
accord with His Majesty's views, the Council may be 
commanded to reconsider the matter." Resolutions which 
the King approves, on publication in the Gazette, become 
law. 

Thus perished the checks which the Japanese sought 
to impose on the absolutism of the Crown, and at the 
present time the Eoyal will (or whim) can and does over- 
ride all else. 

This Evi-chyeng Pu or Council, like the Nai Kak, its 
predecessor, is both a Council of State and a State Depart- 
ment presided over by the Chancellor. The members of 
the Coimcil of State are the Chancellor, the Home Minister, 
who is, ex officio, Vice-Chancellor, the Ministers of Fore^ 
Affairs, Finance, War, Justice, and Agriculture, five Coun- 
cillors, and the Chief Secretary. As a State Department 
under the Chancellor, the staff consists of the " Director of 
the General Bureau," the Chancellor's Private Secretary, 
the Secretary, and eight clerks. 

The Council of State, as now constituted, is empowered 
to pass resolutions concerning the enactment, abrogation 
alteration, or interpretation of laws or regulations ; peace 

^ See p. 35. 



196 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap. 

and war and the making of treaties; restoration of 
domestic order; tel^raphs, railways, mines, and other 
undertakings, and questions of compensation arising there- 
from; the estimates and special appropriations; taxes, 
duties, and excise ; matters sent down to the Council by 
special command of the Sovereign; publication of laws 
and regulations approved by the King. 

The King, if he so pleases, is present in person, or may 
send the Heir- Apparent to represent him. The Chancellor 
presides, two -thirds of the members form a quorum, 
motions are carried by a numerical majority, and finally 
a memorial stating in outline the debate and its issue is 
submitted by the Chancellor to the King, who issues such 
commands as may seem to him best, for, as previously 
stated. His Majesty is not bound to acquiesce in the 
decision of the majority. 

The Euir-chyeng Pz^ as a Department of State through 
the *' Director of the General Bureau ** has three sections — 
Archives, Grazette, and Accounts — and is rather a recording 
than an initiating offica 

The scheme for the reconstruction of the Provincial 
and Metropolitan Gtovemments has introduced many im- 
portant changes and retrenchments. The thirteen Provinces 
are now divided into 339 Prefectures, Seoul having a 
Government of its own. The vast entav/rage of provincial 
authorities has been reduced, and a Provincial Grovemor's 
sta£f is now limited, nominally at least, to six olerks, two 
chief constables, thirty police, ten writers, four ushers, 
fifteen messengers, eight ooolies,and eight boys. Ordinances 
under the head of '' Local Government " define the juris- 
diction, powers, duties, period of office, salaries, and 



xxxii LOCAL GOVERNMENT 197 

etiquette ^ of all officials, along with many minor matters. 
It is in this Department that the reforms instituted by 
the Japanese are the most sweeping. Very many offices 
were abolished, and all Government property belonging to 
the establishments of the officials holding them was ordered 
to be handed over to officers of the new regime, A Local 
Gk)vemment Bureau was established with sections, under 
which local finance in cities and towns and local expendi- 
ture of every kind were to be dealt with. An Engineer- 
ing Bureau dealing with civil engineering and a Land 
Survey, a Registration Bureau dealing with an annual 
census of the population and the registration of lands, a 
Sanitary Bureau, and an Accounts Bureau form part of 
the very ambitious Local Government scheme, admirable 
on paper, and which, if it were honestly carried out, would 
strike at the roots of many of the abuses which are the 
curse of Korea. The whole provincial system as re- 
organised is under the Home Office. 

An important part of the new scheme is the definition 

^ Official Intercowne, Ord. 45 amends some old practices regulating 
the intercourse and correspondence of officials. The etiquette of the 
official call by a newly-appointed Prefect on the Governor, on the whole, is 
retained, although it is in some respects simplified. The old fashion obliged 
the Magistrate to remain outside the yamen gate, while a large folded 
sheet of white paper inscribed with his name was sent in to the Governor. 
The latter thereupon gave orders to his personal attendants or ushers to 
admit the Magistrate. The Votrif as they were commonly styled, called 
out ** Sa-ryerig" to which the servants chanted a reply. The Governor 
being seated, the Magistrate knelt outside the room and bowed to the 
ground. To this obeisance the Governor replied by raising his arms over 
his head. The Magistrate was asked his name and age, given some stereo- 
typed advice, and dismissed. The Governor is for the future to return the 
bow of the Prefect, and conversation is to be conducted in terms of mutual 
respect, the Magistrate describing himself as ^-A:oan (*' your subordinate "), 
and addressing the Governor by his title. 



198 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap. 

of the duties and jurisdiction of the Ministers of State. 
The Cabinet Orders dealing with the duties and discipline 
of officials at large so far issued are^ — 

Order 1. General rules for the conduct of public business. 
„ 3. Memorabilia for officials. 
„ 4. Resumption of office after mourning. 
,, 5. Reprimand and correction. 
„ 6. Obligation to purchase the Gazette, 
„ 7. Memorials to be on ruled paper. 

The management of public offices under the new system 
is practically the same as the Japanese. 

The MemoraiUia for Officials are as follows : — 

{a) No official must trespass outside his own jurisdiction 

(6) Where duties have been deputed to a subordinate, the latter 
must not be continually interfered with. 

(c) A subordinate ordered to do anything which in his opinion 
is irregular or irrelevant should expostulate with his senior. If the 
latter holds by his opinion, the junior must conform. 

{d) Officials must be straightforward and outspoken, and not 
give outward acquiescence while privately criticising or hindering 
their superiors. 

(e) Officials must not listen to suggestions from outsiders or talk 
with them on official businesa 

(/) Officials must be frank with one another, and not form 
cliques. 

ig) No official must wilfully spread fake rumours about another 
or lightly credit such. 

QC) No official must absent himself from office without permission 
during office hours, or frequent the houses of others. 

Besolution 88, passed some months earlier, was even 
more explicit : — 

Officials are thereby forbidden to divulge official secrets even when 



xxxn DEPARTMENTS OF STATE 199 

witnesses in a court of law, unless specially permitted to do so ; or 
to show despatches to outsiders. They are not allowed to become 
directors or managers in a public company ; to accept compensation 
from private individuals or gifts from their subordinates ; to undertake, 
without permission, extra work for payment ; or to put to private 
use Government horses. They may receive honours or presents 
from foreign Sovereigns or Gk)vemments only with the special 
sanction of His Majesty. 

An ordinance restored the use of the uniforms worn 
prior to the " Keformation," whether Court dress, full dress, 
half-dress, or undress, and announced that neither officials 
nor private persons were to be compelled any longer to 
we€ur black. 

Each Department is presided over by a Minister, who is 
empowered to issue Departmental Orders, as Instructions 
to the local officials and police, and NotiiScations to the 
people. His jurisdiction over the police and local officials 
is concurrent with that of his colleagues, who must also be 
consulted by him before recommending to the Throne the 
promotion or degradation of the higher officials of his 
Departmental Staff. 

Under the Minister is a Vice-Minister, empowered to 
act for him on occasion, and, when doing so, possessing 
equal privileges. The Vice-Minister is usually the head 
of the Minister's Secretariat, which deals with " confidential 
matters, promotions, custody of the Minister's and Depart- 
mental Seals, receipt and despatch of correspondence, and 
consultation of precedents, preparation of statistics, com- 
{olation and preservation of archives." 

In addition to the Secretariats, there are a number of 
Bureaux, both Secretariats and Bureaux being, for con- 



200 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap. 

venience, subdivided into sections, each of which has its 
special duties. 

The Departments of Government are as follows : — 

HoBiE Office 

The Home Minister has charge of matters concerning 
local government, police, gaols, civil engineering, sanitation, 
shrines and temples, surveying, printing census, and pubUc 
charity, as well as the general supervision of the local 
authorities and the police. 

FoREiaN Office 

The Foreign Minister is vested with the control of inter- 
national affairs, the protection of Korean commercial 
interests abroad, and the supervision of the Diplomatic 
and Consular Services. 

The Treasury 

" The Minister for Finance, being vested with the con- 
trol of the finances of the Government, will have charge of 
all matters relating to accounts, revenue, and expenditnre, 
taxes, national debts, the currency, banks, and the like, 
and will have supervision over the finances of each local 
administration " (Ord. 54, § 1). 

Under this Minister there is a Taxation Bureau with 
three sections — Land-Tax, Excise, and Customs.^ The 

' The fin&nces of Korea are now practically under British management, 
Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown, LLD., of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, 
and Chief Commissioner of Customs for Korea, having undertaken in 
addition the post of Financial Adviser to the Treasury, and a Royal Edict 
having been issued that every order for a payment out of the national 
purse, down to the smallest, should be countersigned by him. 



xxxii DEPARTMENTS OP STATE 201 

ordinances connected with the remodelled system of 
taxation and the salaries and expenses of officials are 
very numerous and minute. The appropriation actually 
in money for the Sovereign's Privy Purse was fixed at 
$500,000. 

War Office 

The Minister for War, who must be a general officer, 
has charge of the military administration of an army 
lately fixed at 6000 men, and the chief control of men 
and matters in the army, and is to exercise supervision 
over army divisions, and all buildings and forts under his 
Department. The new military arrangements are very 
elaborate. 

Ministry of Education 

In this important Department, besides the Minister 
and Vice-Minister and heads of Bureaux and Sections, there 
are three special Secretaries who act as Inspectors of 
Schools, and an official specially deputed to compile and 
select text-books. 

Besides the Minister's Secretariat, there are the Hdvca- 
tion Bureau, which is concerned with primary, normal, 
intermediary, fore^ language, techniccd and industrial 
schools, and students abroad ; and a Compilation Bureau, 
concerned with the selection, translation, and compilation 
of text-books ; the purchase, preservation, and arrangement 
of volumes, and the printing of books. 

Under this Department has been placed the Confucian 
College, an institution of the old regime, the purpose of 
which was to attend to the Temple of Literature, in which, 



202 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT ohaf. 

as in China, the Memorial Tablets of Confucius, Mencius, 
and the Sages are honoured, and to encoun^e the study 
of the classical books. The subjects for study are the 
" Three Classics," " Four Books and Popular Commentary," 
Chinese Composition, Outlines of Chinese History — of the 
Sung, Ytian, and Ming Dynasties. To meet the reformed 
requirements, this College has been reorganised, and the 
students, who must be between the ages of twenty and 
forty, " of good character, persevering, intelligent, and well 
acquainted with a£fairs," are in addition put through a 
course of Korean and foreign annals, Korean and foreign 
geography, and arithmetic. 

Ministry of Justice 

The Minister of Justice has charge of judicial matters, 
pardons and restorations to rank, instructions for public 
prosecution, and supervision over Special Courts, High 
Courts, and District Courts ; and the Department forms a 
High Court of Justice for the hearing of certain appeals. 

Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, and Industry 

The Minister of Agriculture has charge of all matters 
relating to agriculture, commerce, industries, posts, tele- 
graphs, shipping, and marine officers. 

In this Department, besides the Minister's Secretariat, 
there are Bureaux of Agriculture, Communications, Trade, 
Industry, Mining, and Accounts. The Bureau of Agricul- 
ture contains Agricultural, Forest, and Natural Products 
sections; that of Communications, Post, Telegraph, and 
Marine sections ; and that of Trade and Industry deals with 
Commerce, Trading Corporations, Weights and Measures, 



rxxii THE VILLAGE SYSTEM 203 

Manufactures, and Factories. The Mining Bureau has 
sections for Mines and Geology, and the Bureau of 
Accounts deals with the inventories and expenditure of 
the Department. 

The Village System 

Besides the Eeorganisation of these important Depart- 
ments of State, a design for a " Village System," organised 
as follows, is to supersede that which had decayed with 
the general decay of Government in Korea. 

The country is now divided into districts {Kun\ each 
Kun containing a number of myrni or cantons, each of 
which includes a number of ni or villages. The old posts 
and titles are abolished, and each village is now to be 
provided with the following officers : — 

1. Headman. — He must be over thirty years of age, and 
is elected for one year by the householders. The office is 
honorary. 

2. Clerk, — He holds office under the same conditions as 
the Headman, under whom he keeps the books and issues 
notices. 

3. Elder, — Nominated by the householders, he acts for 
the Headman as occasion demands. 

4. Bailiff. — Elected at the same time as the Headman, 
he performs the usual duties of a servant or messenger, 
and holds office for a year on good behaviour. 

The corresponding officers of the canton (commune) are 
a Mayor, a Clerk, a Bailiff, and a Communal Usher who is 
irremovable except for cause given, and is, like the other 
officials, elected by the canton. 

A Village Council is composed of the Headman and one 



204 HEORGANISEb KOREAN GOVERNMENT chap. 

man from each family, and is empowered to pass resolu- 
tions on matters connected with education, registration of 
households or lands, sanitation, roads and bridges, com- 
munal grain exchanges, agricultural improvements, common 
woods and dykes, payment of taxes, relief in famine or 
other calamity, adjustment of the corvee, savings associa- 
tions, and bye-laws. The Headman, who acts as chair- 
man, has not only a casting vote, but the power to veto. 
A resolution passed over the veto of the Headman has to 
be referred to the Mayor, and over the veto of the Mayor 
to the Prefect. If passed twice over the veto of the 
Prefect, reference may be made to the (Jovemor. All 
resolutions, however, must be submitted twice a year to 
the Home OflSce, through the Prefect and Governor ; and 
it is incumbent on the Prefectural Council to sit at least 
twice in the year. 

Taxes are by a law of 13th October 1895 classified as 
Land-Tax, Scutage, Mining Dues, Customs Dues, and Excise. 
Excise is now made to include, besides ginseng dues, what 
are known as "Miscellaneous Dues," viz. rent of glebe lands, 
tax on rushes used in mat-making, market dues on fire- 
wood and tobacco, tax on kilns, tax on edible seaweed, tax 
on grindstones, up-river dues, and taxes on fisheries, 
salterns, and boats. All other imposts have been declared 
illegal. The first Korean Budget imder the reformed system 
was published in January 1896, and showed an estimated 
revenue from all sources of $4,809,410. 

The Palace Department imderwent reorganisation, nomi- 
nally at least, and elaborate schemes for the administratioti 
of Boyal Establishments, State Temples, and Mausolea were 
devised, and the relative rank of members of the Royal Clan, 



XXXII ROYAL EDICTS 205 

including ladies, was fixed — the ladies of the King's Seraglio 
being divided into eight classes, and those of the Crown 
Prince into four. The number of Court oflBcials attached to 
the difTerent Boyal Households, though diminished, is legion. 

Various ordinances brought the classification of Korean 
officials into line with those of Japan. Every class in the 
country, private and official, has come into the purview 
of the Beorganisers, and finds its position (on paper) more 
or less altered. 

Among the more important of the Edicts which have 
nominally become law are the following : — 

Agreements with China cancelled. Distinctions between 
Patrician and Plebeian abolished. Slavery abolished. Early 
Marriages prohibited. Eemarriage of widows permitted. 
Bribery to be strictly forbidden. No one to be arrested 
without warrant for civil offences. Couriers, mountebanks, 
and butchers no longer to be under degradation. Local 
Councils to be established. New coinage issued. Organisa- 
tion of Police force. No one to be punished without trial. 
Irregular taxation by Provincial Governments forbidden. 
Extortion of money by officials forbidden. Family of a 
criminal not to be involved in his doom. Great modifica- 
tions as to torture. Superfluous Paraphernalia abolished. 
School of Instruction in Vaccination. Hair -cropping 
Proclamation. Solar Calendar adopted. " Drilled Troops " 
{Kun-ren'tai) abolished. Legal punishments defined. 
Slaughter-Houses licensed. Committee of Legal Eevision 
appointed. Telegraph Eegulations. Postal Eegulations. 
Bail ways placed under Bureau of Communications. These 
ordinances are a selection from among several hundred 
promulgated since July 1894. 



206 REORGANISED KOREAN GOVERNMENT caxxxn 

Of the reforms notified during the last three and a half 
years several have not taken effect ; and concerning others 
there has been a distinctly retrograde movement, with a 
tendency to revert to the abuses of the old regime; and 
others which were taken in hand earnestly have gradually 
collapsed, owing in part to the limpness of the Korean 
character, and in part to the opposition of all in office and 
of all who hope for office to any measures of reform. 
Some, admirable in themselves, at present exist only on 
paper ; but, on the whole, the reorganised system, though 
in many respects fragmentary, is a great improvement on 
the old one; and it may not unreasonably be hoped 
that the young men, who are now being educated in 
enlightened ideas and notions of honour, will not repeat 
the iniquities of their fathers. 



CHAPTEE XXXIII 



EDUCATION — ^TRADE — FINANCE 



KOBEAN education has hitherto failed to produce patriots, 
thinkers, or honest men. It has been conducted thus. In 
an ordinary Korean school the pupils, seated on the floor 
with their Chinese books in front of them, the upper parts 
of their bodies swaying violently from side to side or back- 
wards and forwards, from daylight till sunset, vociferate 
at the highest and loudest pitch of their voices their 
assigned lessons from the Chinese classics, committing 
them to memory or reciting them aloud, writing the 
Chinese characters, filling their receptive memories with 
fragments of the learning of the Chinese sages and passages 
of mythical history, the begoggled teacher, erudite and 
supercilious, rod in hand and with a book before him, now 
and then throwing in a word of correction in stentorian 
tones which rise above the din. 

This educational mill grinding for ten or more years 
enabled the average youth to aspire to the literary degrees 
which were conferred at the Kwa-ga or Eoyal Examinations 
held in Seoul up to 1894, and which were regarded as the 
stepping-stones to official position, the great object of Korean 
ambition. There is nothing in this education to develop 



208 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap. 

the thinking powers or to enable the student to understand 
the world he lives in. The eflfort to acquire a difficult 
language, the knowledge of which gives him a mastery of 
his own, is in itself a desirable mental discipline, and the 
ethical teachings of Confucius and Mencius, however de- 
fective, contain much that is valuable and true, but beyond 
this little that is favourable can be said. 

Narrowness, grooviness, conceit, superciliousness, a false 
pride which despises manual labour, a selfish individualism 
destructive of generous public spirit and social trustful- 
ness, a slavery in act and thought to customs and traditions 
2000 years old, a narrow intellectual view, a shallow moral 
sense, and an estimate of women essentiaUy degrading, 
appear to be the products of the Korean educational system. 

With the abolition of the Boyal Examinations; a change 
as to the methods of Government appointments ; the work- 
ing of the Western leaven ;^ the increased prominence given 
to En-mAjm, and the slow entrance of new ideas into the 
country, some of the desire for this purely Chinese educa- 
tion has passed away, and it has been found necessary to 
stimulate ^at threatened to become a flagging interest in 
all education by new educational methods and forces, the 
influence of which should radiate from the capital 

There are now (October 189*7) Government Yemacular 
Schools, a Government School for the study of English, 
Foreign Language Schools, and Mission Schools. Outside 
the Vernacular and Mission Schools there is the before- 
mentioned Boyal English School, with 100 students in 
uniform, regularly drilled by a British Sergeant of Marines, 
and crazy about football ! These young men, in appearance, 

^ See Appendix D, 



XXXIII THE PAI CHAI COLLEGE 209 

manners, and rapid advance in knowledge of English, re- 
flect great credit on their instructors. After this come 
Japanese, French, and Bussian Schools, at present chiefly 
linguistic. Mr. Birukoff, in charge of the Bussian School, 
was a captain of light artiUery in the Bussian army, and 
in both the Bussian and French schools the students are 
drilled daily by Bussian drill-instructors. 

Undoubtedly the establishment which has exercised 
and is exercising the most powerful educational, moral, and 
intellectual influence in Korea is the Pai Ghai College 
(" Hall for the rearing of Useful Men "), so named by the 
King in 1887. This, which belongs to the American 
Methodist Episcopal Church, has had the advantage of the 
services of one Principal, the Bev. H. G. Appenzeller, for 
eleven years. It has a Chiaeae-Hn-mun department, for 
the teaching of the Chinese classics, Sheflield's Universal 
History, etc., a small theological department, and an English 
department, in which reading, grammar, composition, 
spelling, history, geography, arithmetic, and the elements 
of chemistry and natural philosophy are taught Dr. 
Jaisohn, a Korean educated in America, has recently 
lectured once a week at this College on the geographical 
divisions of the earth and the political and ecclesiastical 
history of Europe, and has awakened much enthusiasm. 
A patriotic spirit is being developed among the students, as 
well as something of the English public school spirit with 
its traditions of honour. This College is undoubtedly 
making a decided impression, and is giving, besides a 
liberal education, a measure of that broader intellectual 
view and deepened moral sense which may yet prove the 
salvation of Korea. Christian instruction is given in 
voii.n p 



210 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap. 

Korean, and attendance at chapel is compulsory. The 
pupils are drilled, and early in 1897, during the military 
craze, adopted a neat European military uniform. There 
is a flourishing industrial department, which includes a 
trilingual press and a bookbinding establishment, both of 
which have full employment. 

Early in 1895 the Government, recognising the im- 
portance of the secular education given in this College, 
made an agreement by which it could place pupils up to 
the number of 200 there, paying for their tuition and the 
salaries of certain tutors. 

There are other schools for girls and boys, in which an 
industrial training is given, conducted with some success 
by the same Mission, and the American Presbyterians have 
several useful schools, and pay much attention to the train- 
ing of girls. 

The SocUti des Missions Mrangires has in Seoul an 
Orphanage and two Boys' Schools, with a total of 262 
children. The principal object is to train the orphans 
as good Eoman Catholics. In the Boys' Schools the pupils 
are taught to read and write Chinese and En-mim, and to 
a limited extent they study the Chinese classics. The 
religious instruction is given in Sn-mun, They aim at 
providing a primary education for the children of Korean 
converts. 

The boys in the Orphanage are taught Unr-mun only, 
and at thirteen are adopted by Boman Catholics in Seoul or 
the country, and learn either farming or trades, or, assuming 
their own support, enter a trade or become servants. The 
elder girls learn Sn-mun, sewing, and housework, and at 
fifteen are married to the sons of Boman Catholics. At 



xxxni THE REFORMED EDUCATION 211 

Biong San near Seoul there is a Theological Seminary for 
the training of candidates for the priesthood. 

Besides these there is a school established in 1896 by 
the " Japanese Foreign Educational Society," which is com- 
posed chiefly of ''advanced" Japanese Christians. The 
course of study embraces the Chinese classics, En-muny 
composition, the study of Japanese as a medium for the 
study of Western learning, and lectures on science and 
religion. This school was intended by its founders to 
work as a Christian propaganda. 

In 1897 there were in Seoul nearly 900 students, chiefly 
young men, in Mission and Foreign Schools, inclusive 
of 100 in the Eoyal English School, which has English 
teachers. In the majority of these the students are 
trained in Christian morality, fundamental science, general 
history, and the principles of patriotism. A certain 
amount of denationalisation is connected with most of the 
Boys' Schools, for the students necessarily receive new 
ideas, thoughts, and views of life, which cannot be shaken 
out of them by any local circumstances, changing their 
standpoints and the texture of their minds for life. When 
they replace the elder generation better things may be 
expected for Korea. 

The Korean reformed ideas of education, which had 
their origin during the Japanese reform era, embrace the 
creation of a primary school system, an efficient Normal 
College, and Intermediate Schools. Actually existing under 
the Department of Education are a revived Confucian 
School, the Eoyal English School, and the Normal College, 
placed in May 1897 under the very efficient care of the 
Rev. H. B. Hulbert, M.A., a capable and scholarly man, 



218 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE ohap. 

some of whose contributions to our knowledge of Korean 
poetry and music have enriched earlier chapters of these 
volumes. Text-books in En-^mun and teachers who can 
teach them have to be created. It is hoped and expected 
that supply will follow demand, and that in a few years 
the larger provincial towns will possess Intermediate 
or High Schools, and the villages attain the advantages 
of elementary schools, all using a uniform series of 
text-books in the vernacular. Chinese finds its place 
in the curriculum, but not as the medium for teaching 
Korean and general history, or geography and arith- 
metic, which must be acquired through the native 
tongua 

In spite of the somewhat spasmodic and altogether 
unscientific methods of the Education Department, it 
has succeeded in getting the revived Normal College under 
way, as well as a &ir number of primary schools, where 
over 1000 boys are learning the elements of arithmetic, 
geography, and Korean history, with brief outlines of the 
systems of government in other civilised countries. Seventy- 
seven youths are studying in Japan at Government 
expense, and have made fair progress in languages, but are 
said to show a lack of mathematical aptitude and logical 
power. Altogether the Korean educational outlook is not 
without elements of hopefulness. 

Though the Foreign Trade of Korea only averages some- 
thing less than£l,500,000 annually, the potential commerce 
of a country with not less than 12,000,000 of people, all 
cotton-clad, ought not to be overlooked. The amoimt of 
foreign trade which exists is the growth of thirteen years 
only, but when we remember that Korea is a purely 



XXXIII KOREAN EXPORTS 213 

agricultural country of a very primitive and backward 
type, that many of her finest valleys are practically isolated 
by mountaiii ranges, traversed by nearly impassable roads, 
that the tyranny of custom is strong, that the Korean 
farmer is only just learning that a profitable and almost 
imlimited demand exists for his rice and beans across the 
sea, that the serious cost of his cotton clothing can be kept 
down by importing foreign yam or piece goods, and that 
his comfort can be increased by the introduction of articles 
of foreign manufacture, and that such facts are only slowly 
entering the secluded valleys of the Hermit Kingdom, the 
actual bulk of the trade is rather surprising, and its 
possibilities are worth considering. The net imports of 
foreign goods have increased from the value of $2,474,189 
in 1886 to $6,531,324 in 1896.^ Measured in dollars, the 
trade of 1896 exceeds that of any previous year except 
1895, when the occupation of Korea by Japanese troops, 
with their large following of transport coolies, created an 
artificial expansion. 

Among Korean exports, which chiefly consist of beans, 
fish (dried manure), cow-hides, ginseng, paper, rice, and 
seaweed, there are none which are likely to find a market 
elsewhere than in China and Japan, but Korea, so far as 
rice goes, is on the way to become the granary of the latter 
country, her export in 1890 having reached the value of 
£271,000. 

With imports, European countries, India, and America 
are concerned. Without, I think, being over sanguine, I 
anticipate a time when, with improved roads, railroads, and 
enlightenment, together with security for the earnings of 

^ For detailed statistics of Korean Foreign Trade, see Appendix C. 



214 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap. 

labour from official and patrician exactions, the Korean 
will have no further occasion for protecting himself by an 
appearance of squalid poverty, and when he will become 
on a largely increased scale a consumer as well as a pro- 
ducer, and will surround himself with comforts and luxuries 
of foreign manufacture, as his brethren are already doing 
under the happier rule of Bussia. Under the improved 
conditions which it is reasonable to expect, I should not be 
surprised if the value of the Foreign Trade of Korea were 
to reach £10,000,000 in another quarter of a century, and 
the share which England is to have of it is an important 
question. 

Our great competitor in the Korean markets is Japan, 
and we have to deal not only with a rival within twenty 
hours of Korean shores, and with nearly a monopoly of 
the carrying trade, but with the most nimble -witted, 
adaptive, persevering, and pushing people of our day. It 
is inevitable that British hardware and miscellaneous 
articles must be ousted by the products of Japanese 
cheaper labour, and that the Japanese will continue to 
supply the increasing demand for scissors, knives, matches, 
needles, hoes, grass knives, soap, perfumes, kerosene lamps, 
iron cooking pots, nails, and the like, but the loss of the 
trade in cotton piece goods would be a serious matter, and 
the possibility of it has to be faced. 

The value of the import trade in 1896 was £708,461, 
as against £876,816 for 1896 (an exceptional year), and 
the larger part of this reduction took place in articles of 
British manufacture, the decrease of £134,304 in the value 
of cotton imports falling almost entirely on cottons of 
British origin, the Japanese import not only retaining 



xxxin THE BRITISH MANUFACTURERS 216 

its position in spite of adverse circumstances, but showing 
a slight increase. Japanese sheetings showed a substantial 
increase, more than counterbalanced by the diminished 
import of the British and American article, and Japanese 
cotton yam continued to arrive in larger quantities, and 
is gradually driving British and Indian yam out of the 
Korean market. It can be sold at a considerably lower 
price than the British article, and practicstUy at the same 
price as the Indian, with which its improved quality 
enables it to compete on very favourable terms. 

As the result of inquiries carried on during my two 
journeys in the interior, as well as at the treaty ports, it 
does not appear to me that Japanese success is even chiefly 
caused by proximity, and in 1896 she had to compete with 
the enterprise and energy of the Chinese, who, having 
returned after the war to the benefits of British protection, 
were pushing the distribution of Manchester goods im- 
ported from Shanghai 

Bather I am inclined to think that the success of our 
rival is mainly due to causes which I have seen in opera- 
tion in Persia and Central Asia as well as in Korea, and 
which embrace not only imperfect knowledge of the 
tastes and needs of customers, but the neglect to act upon 
information supplied by consular and diplomatic agents, 
a groovy adherence to British methods of manufacture, and 
the ignoring of native desires as to colours, patterns, and 
the widths and makes which suit native clothing and treat- 
ment, and the size of bales best suited to native methods 
of transport. I do not allude to the charge ofttimes made 
against our manufacturers of supplying inferior cottons, 
because I have never seen any indications of its correctness. 



216 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap. 

nor have I heard any complaints on the subject either in 
Korea or China, but of the ignoring of the requirements of 
customers there is no doubt. It is everywhere a grievance 
and source of loss, and is likely to lose us the prospective 
advantages of the Korean market. 

The Japanese success, putting the advantages of prox- 
imity aside, is, I believe, mainly due to the accuracy of 
the information obtained by their keen-witted agents, who 
have visited all the towns and villages in Korea, and to 
the carefulness with which their manufacturers are studying 
the tastes and requirements of the Korean market. Their 
goods reatch the shore in manageable bales, which do not 
require to be adapted after arrival to the minute Korean 
pony, and their price, width, length, and texture commend 
them to the Korean consumer. The Japanese understand 
that cotton 18 inches wide is the only cotton from which 
Korean garments can be fashioned without very consider- 
able waste, and they supply the market with it ; and on 
the report of the agents of the importing firms, the weavers 
of Osaka and other manufacturing towns with adroitness 
and rapidity closely adapted the texture, width, and length 
of their cottons to those of the hand-loom cotton goods 
made in South Korea, which are deservedly popular for 
their durability, and have succeeded not only in producing 
an imitation of Korean cotton cloth, which stands the 
pounding and beating of Korean washing, but one which 
actually deceives the Korean weavers themselves as to its 
origin, and which has won great popularity with the Korean 
women. If Korea is to be a British market in the future, 
the lost ground must be recovered by working on Japanese 
lines, which are the lines of commercial common sense. 



xxxm THE EXPORT OP GOLD 217 

To sum up, I venture to express the opinion that the 
droumstances of the large population of Korea are destined 
to gradual improvement with the aid of either Japan or 
Bussia, that foreign trade must increase more or less 
steadUy with increased buying powers and improved means 
of transport, and that the amount which faUs to the share 
of Great Britain will depend largely upon whether British 
manufacturers are willing or not to adapt their goods to 
Korean tastes and convenience. 

As instances of the aptitude of the Koreans for taking 
to foreign articles which suit their needs, it may be men- 
tioned, on the authority of a report from the British 
Consul-General to the British Foreign OflSce on Trade and 
Finance in Korea for 1896, presented to Parliament July 
1897, that the import of lucifer matches reached the 
figure of £11,386,^ while that of American and Bussian 
kerosene exceeded £36,000. 

In 1896 the export of gold increased, and was 
$1,390,412, one million dollars* worth being exported from 
Won-san alone. The gold export included, the excess of 
Korean imports over exports was only about £50,000, and 
as it is estimated that only one-half of the gold actually 
leaving the country is declared, it may be assumed that 
Korea is able to pay for a larger supply of foreign goods 
than she has hitherto taken. The statistics of Korean 
Foreign Trade which are to be found in the Appendix are 
the latest returns, supplied to me by the courtesy of the 
Korean Customs Department,^ the returns of shipping and 

I This seems incredible, and compels one to suppose that £ is a mis- 
print for $. 

^ See Appendix B. 



218 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE chap. 

of principal articles of export and import being taken from 
H.B.M/S Consul-Generars Eeport for 1896, presented to 
Parliament July 189*7.^ With reference to the shipping 
returns, it must be observed that the British flag is practi- 
cally unrepresented in Korean waters, even a chartered 
British steamer being rarely seen. The monopoly of the 
carrying trade which Japan has enjoyed has only lately 
been broken into by the establishment of a Bussian sub- 
sidised line as a competitor. 

In addition to the trade of the three ports open to 
Foreign Trade in 1896, to which the returns given refer 
exclusively, there is that carried on by the non-treaty 
ports, and on the Chinese and Bussian frontiers. 

In concluding this brief notice of the Foreign Trade of 
Korea, I may remark that Japanese competition, so far as 
it consists in the ability to undersell us owing to cheaper 
labour, is hkely to diminish year by year, as the conditions 
under which goods can be manufactured gradually approxi- 
mate to those which exist in England ; the rapidly increas- 
mg price of the necessaries of life in Japan, the demand 
for more than "a living wage," and an appreciation of the 
advantages of combination all tending in this direction. 

On the subject of Finance there is little to be said. The 
principal items of revenue are a land-t£ix of six dollars on 
a fertile h/el, and five dollars on a mountain h/el, a house- 
tax of 60 cents annually, from which houses in the capital 
are exempt, the ginseng-tax, and the gold-dues, making up 
a budget of about 4,000,000 dollars, a sum amply sufficient 
for the legitimate expenditure of the country. The land- 
tax is extremely light. Only about a third of the revenue 

^ See Appendix C. 



xxxm THE KOREAN TREASURY 219 

actually collected reaches the National Treasury, partly 
owing to the infinite corruption of the oflBcials through 
whose hands it passes, and partly because provincial income 
and expenditure are to a certain extent left to local manage- 
ment. If the Government is in earnest in the all-import- 
ant matter of educating the people, the increased expendi- 
ture can readily be met by imposing taxation on such 
articles of luxury as wine and tobacco, which are enor- 
mously consumed, Seoul alone possessing 475 wine shops 
and 1100 tobacco shops. But even without resorting to 
any new source of revenue, with strict supervision and 
regular accounts the income of the Central Government is 
capable of considerable expansion. 

In spite of the awful oflBcial corruption which has been 
revealed, and the chaos which up to 1896 prevailed in the 
Treasury, the Korean financial outlook is a hopeful one. 
At the close of 1895 the King persuaded Mr. M^Leavy 
Brown, LL.D., the Chief Commissioner of Customs, to 
undertake the thankless office of Adviser to the Treasury, 
confirming his position some months later by the issue of 
an edict making his signature essential to all orders for pay- 
ments out of the national purse. Korean imagination and 
ingenuity are chiefly fertile in devising tricks and devices 
for getting hold of public money, and anything more 
hydra-headed than the dishonesty of Korean official life 
cannot be found, so that it is not surprising that as soon 
as the foreign adviser blocks one nefarious proceeding 
another is sprung upon him, and that the army of. 
useless drones, deprived of their " vested interests " by the 
judicious retrenchments which have been made, as well as 
thousands who are trembling for their ill-gotten gains. 



220 EDUCATION— TRADE— FINANCE ohap. 

should oppose financial reform by every device of Oriental 
ingenuity. 

However, race, as represented by the honour and 
capacity of one European, is carrying the day, and Korean 
Finance is gradually being placed on a sound basis. With 
careful management, judicious retrenchments of expendi- 
ture, the reduction of the chaos in the Treasury to an 
orderly system of accounts, and a different method of 
collecting the land-tax, which is now being remitted with 
tolerable regularity to the Treasury, an actual financial 
equilibrium was established and mamtained- during the 
year 1896, which closed with a considerable surplus, and 
in April 1897 one million dollars of the Japanese loan of 
three millions was repaid to Japan, and there is every 
prospect that the remaining indebtedness might be paid ofT 
out of income in 1899, leaving Korea in the proud posi- 
tion of a country without a national debt, and with a 
surplus of income over expenditure ! 

The prosperous financial conclusion of 1896 is all the 
more remarkable because of certain exceptional expendi- 
tures. Two new regiments were added to tiie army, the 
old Arsenal, a disused costly toy, was put into working 
order, witii all necessary modem improvements, under 
the supervision of a Bussian machinist, the Kyeng-wun 
F^dace was built, costly ceremonies and works cQtmected 
with the late Queen's prospective funeral were paid for, 
and a considerable area of western Seoul was recreated. 
All civil Government employis (and they are legion), as 
well as soldiers and police, ar6 paid r^ularly every month, 
and sinecures are very slowly disappearing. 

A Korean silver, copper, and brass coinage, convenient 



xxxm THE NEW COINAGE 221 

as well as ornamental, is coming into general circulation, 
and as it gradually displaces cashy is setting trade free 
from at least one of the conditions which hampered it, 
and increased banking facilities are tending in the same 
direction. 



224 KOREAN D^MONISM OR SHAMANISM chap. 

been ascertained. There is an unwillingness to speak to 
foreigners on this topic, and inquirers may have been 
purposely misled, but enough has been gained to make it 
likely that further inquiry will be productive of very 
valuable results.^ The superstitions already mentioned, 
however trivial in themselves, point to that which underlies 
all religion, the belief in something outside ourselves 
which is higher or more powerful than ourselves. 

It is indeed asserted by many of the so-called educated 
class that the only cult in Korea is ancestor-worship, and 
they profess to ridicule the rags, cairns, shrines, and the 
other paraphernalia of daemon-worship, as the superstition 
of women and coolies, and it is probable that, in Seoul at 
least, few men of the upper class are believers, or patronise 
the rites otherwise than as unmeaning customs which it 
would be impolitic to discontinue ; but it is safe to say that 
from the Palace to the hovel all women, and a majority of 
men, go through the forms which, influencing Buddhism, 
and possibly being modified by it, have existed in Korea 
for more than fifteen centuries. 

Without claiming any degree of scientific accuracy for 
the term Shamanism, as applied to this cult in Korea, it is 
more convenient to use it, the word daemon having come 
to bear a popular meaning which prohibits its use where 
good spirits as well as bad are indicated. So fSEur as I 
know. Shamanism exists only in Asia, and flourishes 

^ I desire again to express my indebtedness to the ReT. 6. Heber Jones, 
of Chemnlpo, for the loan of, and the liberty to use, his yery careful and 
painstaking notes on the subject of Korean dfemonism, and lUao to a paper 
on The Exorcism of Spirits in Korea^ by Dr Landis of Chemulpa Apart 
from the researches of these two Korean scholars, the results of my own 
inquiry and obaerration would scarcely haye been worth publishing. 



XXXIV ANTIQUITY OF SHAMANISM 226 

specially among the tribes north of the Amur, the 
Samoyedes, Ostiaks, etc., as well as among hill tribes on 
the south-western frontier of China. The term Shaman 
may be applied to all persons, male or female, whose pro- 
fession it is to have direct dealings with daemons, and to 
possess the power of securing their good- will and averting 
their malignant influences by various magical rites, charms, 
and incantations, to cure diseases by exorcisms, to predict 
future events, and to interpret dreams. 

Korean Sharnanism or Dsemonism differs from that of 
northern Asia in its mildness, possibly the result of early 
Buddhist influence. It is the cult of daemons not necessarily 
evil, but usually the enemies of man, and addicted to 
revenge and caprice. Though the Shamans are neither an 
order, nor linked by a common organisation, they are 
practically recognised as a priesthood, in so far as it is 
through their offices that the daemons are approached and 
propitiated on behalf of the people. It is supposed that the 
Shaman or wizard was one of the figures in the dawn of 
Korean history, and that Daemonism in its early stage was 
marked by human sacrifices. Shamans in the train of 
royalty, and as a part of the social organisation of the 
Peninsula, figure in very early Korean story, and they 
appear to have been the chief, if not the only, " religious " 
instructors. 

One class among the Shamans is incorporated into one 
of those guilds which are the Trades Unions of Korea, and 
the Government has imposed registration on another class.^ 

^ What is true in Korea to-day may be untrue to-morrow. One month 
there was a police raid in Seoul upon the mtc-tang or sorceresses, another 
the sisterhood was flourishing ; and so the pendulum swings. 

V0L.n Q 



226 KOREAN D.£MONISM OR SHAMANISM ohap. 

There are now two principal classes of Shamans, the Pan-mi 
and the mu-tang. The Pan-su, are blind sorcerers, and 
those parents are fortunate who have a blind son, for he is 
certain to be able to make a good living and support tiiem 
in their old age. The Pari-^u were formerlj persons of 
much distinction in the kingdom, but their social position 
has been lowered during the present dynasty, though in 
the present reign their influence in the Palace, and specially 
with the late Queen, has wrought much eviL The chief 
officials of the Pan-su Guild in Seoul hold the official titles 
of Cham-pan^ and Seung-ji from the GU)yemment, which 
gives prestige to the whole body. In order to guard their 
professional interests, the Pan-su have local guilds, and in 
the various sections "dub-houses" built out of their own 
funds. The central office of the Pan-su guild in Seoul was 
built and maintained by Government, and the two chief 
officials of the guild hold, or held, ;2£a«t-official rank. 

It appears that admission into the fraternity is only 
granted to an applicant on his giving proof of proficiency 
in the knowledge of a cumbrous body of orally-transmitted 
Shaman tradition, wisdom and custom, much of it believed 
by the people to be 4000 years old, and embracing scraps 
of superstition from the darkest arcana of Buddhism, as 
well as fragments of Confucianism. The neophyte has to 
learn of "the existence, nature, and power of daemons, 
their relations with man, the efficacy of exorcism through 
a magic ritual, and the genuine and certain character of 
the results of divination.'* He must meditate on "the 

^ Cham-pan is a title of ofiScials of a certain rank in Government 
Departments in Seoul, and might be rendered Secretary of Department« 
Seung-ji probably has the same meaning. 



XXXIV THE COST OF D^MON-WORSHIP 227 

customs, habits, and weaknesses of every class in Korean 
society, in order to deal knowingly with his clients. A 
slight acquaintance with Confacianism must enable him 
to give a flavour of learning to his speech, and he must 
be well drilled in the methods of exorcisms, incantations, 
magic spells, divination, and the manufacture of charms 
and amulets." ^ 

The services of sorcerers or geomancers are invariably 
called for in connection with the choice of sites for houses 
and graves, in certain contracts, and on the occasion of 
unusual calamities, sickness, births, marriages, and the 
purchase of land. The chief functions of the Shaman are, 
the influencing of daemons by ritual and magical rites, 
propitiating them by ofierings, exorcisms, and the procuring 
of oracles. In their methods, dancing, gesticulations, a 
real or feigned ecstasy, and a drum play an important part. 
The fees of the Shaman are high, and it is believed that, 
at the lowest computation, Dsemonism costs Korea two 
million five hundred thousand dollars annually ! In order 
to obtain favours or avert calamities, it is necessary to 
employ the Shamans as mediators, and it is their fees, and 
not the cost of the ofierings, which press so heavily on the 
people. 

Among the reasons which render the Shaman a necessity 
are these. In Korean belief, earth, air, and sea are 
peopled by daemons. They haunt every umbrageous tree,, 
shady ravine, crystal spring, and mountain crest. On 
green hill-slopes, in peaceful agricultural valleys, in grassy 
dells, on wooded uplands, by lake and stream, by road and 
river, in north, south, east, and west, they abound, making 
malignant sport out of human destinies. They are on 



228 KOREAN DiEMONISM OR SHAMANISM chap. 

every roof, ceiling, fireplace, kang and beam. They fill the 
chimney, the shed, the living room, the kitchen — they are on 
every shelf and jar. In thousands they waylay the traveller 
as he leaves his home, beside him, behind him, dancing in 
front of him, whirring over his head, crying out upon 
him from earth, air, and water. They are numbered by 
thovsands of hUlions, and it has been well said that their 
ubiquity is an unholy travesty of the Divine Omnipresence.^ 
This belief, and it seems to be the only one he has, keeps 
the Korean in a perpetual state of nervous apprehension, it 
surrounds him with indefinite terrors, and it may truly be 
said of him that he ''psisses the time of his sojourning 
here in fear." Every Korean home is subject to daemons, 
here, there, and everywhere. They touch the Korean at 
every point in life, making his well-being depend on a 
continual series of acts of propitiation, and they avenge 
every omission with merciless severity, keeping him under 
this yoke of bondage from birth to death. 

The phrase "daemon -worship" as applied to Korean 
Shamanism is somewhat misleading. These legions of 
spirits which in Korean belief people the world, are of two 
classes, the first alone answering to our conception of 
daemons. These are the self- existent spirits, unseen 
enemies of man, whose designs are always malignant or 
malicious, and spirits of departed persons, who, having 
died in poverty and manifold distresses, are unclothed, 
hungry, and shivering vagrants, bringing untold calamities 
on those who neglect to supply their wants. It is true, 
however, that about 80 per cent of the l^ons of spirits 
are malignant The second class consists also of self- 

^ Rev. G. H. Jones. 



xxxiv EXORCISM 229 

existent spirits, whose natures are partly kindly, and of 
departed spirits of prosperous and good people, but even 
these are easily offended and act with extraordinary 
capriciousness. These, however, by due intercessions and 
offerings, may be induced to assist man in obtaining his 
desires, and may aid him to escape from the afUctive 
power of the evil daemons. The comfort and prosperity 
of every individual depend on his ability to win and keep 
the favour of the latter class. 

Koreans attribute every ill by which they are afllicted 
to dsemoniacal influence. Bad luck in any transaction, 
of&cial malevolence, illness, whether sudden or prolonged, 
pecuniary misfortune, and loss of power or position, are 
due to the malignity of daemons. It is over such evils 
that the Pan-su is supposed to have power, and to be able 
to terminate them by magical rites, he being possessed 
by a powerful daemon, whose strength he is able to 
wield. 

As an example of the modvs operandi, exorcism in 
sickness which is believed to be the work of an unclean 
daemon may be taken. The Pan-su arrives at the house, 
and boldly undertakes the expulsion of the foul spirit, the 
process being divided into four stages.^ ■■( < . 

1. By a few throws from the tortoise divining box, 
the sorcerer discovers the daemon's nature and character, 
after which he seeks for an auspicious hour and makes 
arrangements for the next stage. 

2. Gaining control of the daemon follows. The Pan-su 
equips himself with a wand of oak or pine a foot and half 

^ This detailed account is from notes kindly lent to me by the Rev. 
G. H. Jones. 



230 KOREAN D^MONISM OR SHAMANISM ohap. 

long, and a bystander is asked to hold this in an upright 
position on an ironing stona Magic formulas are recited 
till the rod begins to shake and even dance on the stone, 
this activity being believed to be the result of the daemon 
having entered the wand. At this stage a talk takes place 
to test the accuracy of the divination of the daemon's name 
and nature, and of the cause of the affliction. The Pan-su 
manages the questions so dexterously that a simple yes is 
indicated by motion in the wand, while no is expressed by 
quiescence. At this stage the daemon is given the choice 
of quietly disappearing ; after which, if he is obstinate, the 
Pan-su proceeds to dislodge him. 

3. The third stage involves the aid of certain familiars 
of the Pan-su. A special wand, made of an eastern branch 
of a peach tree, which has much repute in expelling 
daemons, is taken, and is held on a table in a vertical 
position by an assistant. The Pan-su recites a farther part 
of his magic ritual, its power being shown by acute move- 
ments in the wand in spite of attempts to keep it steady. 
A parley takes place with the Chang-gun, the spirit who 
has been summoned to find out his objects. He promises 
to catch the Chang-kun, the malignant daemon, and after 
preparations and offerings have been made he is asked to 
search for him. The man who holds the wand is violently 
dragged by a supernatural power out of the house to the 
place where the Chang-hm is. Then the Chavg-gun is 
supposed to seize him, and the wand -holder is dragged 
back to the house. 

4 A bottle with a wide mouth is put on the floor, and 
alongside it a piece of paper inscribed with the name of 
the unclean daemon, which has been obtained by divination 



XXXIV RITUAL AND SACRIFICE 231 

and parley. The paper being touched with the magic 
wand jumps into the bottle, which is hastily corked and 
buried on the hill-side or at the cross-roads. 

This singular form of exorcism has a long and un- 
intelligible ritual, in the cases of those who can afford to 
pay for it occupying some days, and at greater or lesser 
length is repeated daily by the Shamans throughout 
Korea. It is usually succeeded by a form known as the 
Eitual of Pacification, which takes a whole night. This is 
for the purpose of restoring order among the household 
daemons, who have been much upset by the previous 
proceedings, cleaning the house, and committing it and its 
inmates to the protection of the most powerful members 
of the Korean daemoniacal hierarchy. 

The instruments of exorcism used by the Pan-su are" 
offerings to be made at various stages of the process, 
a drum, cymbals, a bell, a divination box, and a wand or 
wands. 

The Shamans claim to have derived many of their very 
numerous spells and formulas from Buddhists, who on their 
side assert that daemon -worship was practised in Korea 
long before the introduction of Buddhism, and a relic of 
this worship is pointed out in the custom which prevails 
in the Korean magistracies of offering to guardian spirits 
on stone altars on the hills, pigs, or occasionally sheep, before 
sowing time and after harvest, as well as in case of drought, 
or other general calamity. This sacrifice is offered by the 
local magistrate in the king's name, and though identical 
in form with that offered to Haruinim (the Lord of Heaven) 
is altogether distinct from it: Most of the formulae recited 
by the Shamans have the reputation of being unsafe for 



232 EOBEAN DiBMONISM OR SHAMANISM ghaf. 

ordinary people to use, but in consideration of the possi- 
bility of a great emergency, one is provided, which is 
pronounced absolutely safe. This consists of fifty-six 
characters which must be recited forwards, backwards, and 
sideways, and is called " The twenty-eight stars formula."^ 
Divination is the second function of the Pan-su, and 
consists in a forecast of the future by means of rituals, 
known only to himself, associated with the use of certain 
paraphernalia. This is used also for finding out the result 
of a venture, or the cause of an existing trouble, and for 
casting a man's horoscope, i.e. " The four columns of a 
man's future," these being the hour, day, month, and year 
of his birth, or rather their four combinations. This 
"^ horoscope is the crowning function of divination. In 
these " four colimms " the secret of a man's life is hidden, 
and their relations must govern him in all his actions. 
When a horoscope contains an arrow, which denotes ill- 
luck, the Pan-su corrects the misfortune by formulae used 
with a bow of peach, with which during the recital he shoots 
arrows made of a certain reed into a " non-prohibited " 
quarter. One of the great duties of divination is to cast 
the horoscope of a bride and bridegroom for an auspicious 
day for the wedding, for an unlucky one would introduce 
daemons to the ruin of the new household. 

The great strongholds of divination are the "Prpg- 
Boxes" and dice-boxes, manufactured for this purpose. 
The frog-box is made like a tortoise, having movable lips, 
and contains three cash, over which the Pan-su repeats a 

^ *'The twenty -eight constellations, or stellar mansions, referred to in 
the Shu King, one of the Chinese classical books, shoi^ing the close con- 
nection between Chinese and Korean superstition." — W. C. H. 



XXXIV IMPLEMENTS OF DIVINATION 233 

very ancient invocation, which has been translated thus : 
" Will all you people grant to reveal the symbols." The 
coins are thrown three times, and the three falls present 
him with the combinations of characters, out of which he 
manufactures his oracle. The second implement of divina- 
tion is a bamboo or brass tube closed at both ends, but 
with a small hole in one to allow of the exit of small 
bamboo splinters of which it contains eight. The same 
thing is to be seen on innumerable altars in China. Each 
splinter has from one to eight notches on it, and stands 
for a symbol of certain signs on that divining table 3000 
years old, called the Ho-pai, which is implicitly believed 
in by the Chinese. Two of these splinters give two sets 
of characters, eight being connected with each symbol 
When the Pan-su has obtained these he is ready to evolve 
his oracle. 

Great reliance is placed on the charms which the Pan-su 
make and seU. Probably there are few adults or children 
who do not wear these as amulets. They are generally 
made in the form of insects, or consist of Chinese characters. 
They are written on specially-prepared yellow paper in 
red ink, and are regarded as being efficacious against 
illness and other calamities. Amulets are made of the 
wood of trees struck by lightning, which is supposed to 
possess magical qualities. 



236 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap. 

daemons. It is essential that the festival day should be 
chosen by divination, by either a Son-It or a Pan-su 
acquainted with magic, and that the sorcerers should bathe 
frequently and abstain from animal food for seven previous 
days. 

The village daemon festival has a resemblance at some 
points to the Shinto matsv/ri of Japan. On the festa day 
a booth, much decorated with tags of brilliant colour, is 
erected near the daemons' shrine, and with an accompani- 
ment of mvr-tang music, dancing, and lavish and outlandish 
gesticulations, the offerings are presented to the spirits. 
The popular belief is that the daemons become incarnate 
in the mvr-tang, who utter oracles called Kong-su Na-ta, 
and the people bring them bowls of uncooked rice, and 
plead for a revelation of their future during the following 
three years. A common ''test" at this festival is the 
burning a tube of very thin white paper in a bowL Its 
upper end is lighted by the mu-tang, who recites her 
spells as it burns. When it reaches the rim of the bowl, 
if the augury for the future be unfavourable, the paper 
bums away in the bowl, if favourable, the paper lifts 
itself and is blown away. 

The private festay the Chbl-mwri KavJty one of thanks- 
giving to the household daemons, is necessary to secure a 
continuance of their good offices. The expenditure of the 
family resources on this occasion is so lavish as frequently 
to impoverish the household for a whole year. This festa 
may be biennial or triennial At the time a pig is sacrificed, 
offerings are made, mvrtang are hired, and the fetishes of 
the daemons are renewed or cleaned. The Bitual for these 
occasions, if unabbreviated, lasts several days, but among 



XXXV MU-TANG FUNCTIONS 237 

the poor only a selection from it is used. Its stages consist 
of rituals of invocation, petition, offering, and purification. 
While these are being recited a household spirit becomes 
incarnate in the mvr-tang, and through her makes oracular 
revelations of the future. At another stage deceased 
parents and ancestors appear in the mvrtang, and her 
personation of them is described by an eye-witness as both 
" pathetic and ludicrous." At Seoul this festival is observed 
by families at the daemon shrines outside the city walls, 
and not in private houses. 

One of the very common occasions which requires the 
presence of a mvr-tang is the ceremonial known as the Bite 
of Purification, defilement being contracted by a birth or 
death or any action which brings in an unclean daemon, '"; 
whose obnoxious entrance moves the guardian or friendly 
daemons to leave the house. A wand cut from a pine tree 
to the east of the house is used to bring about their return. 
It is set working by the muttered utterance of special 
spells or formulae by the mu-tang, the mont-gari, or tutelary 
spirit, is found, and by means of prayers and oflfierings is 
induced to resume his place, and the unclean daemon is 
exorcised and expelled. The beating of a drum and the 
frequent sprinkling of pure water are portions of this rite. 

The utterance of oracles is another great function of 
the mvrtang. In spite of the low opinion of women held 
by the Koreans, so strong is the belief in the complete 
daemoniacal possession of the mu-taru/, and their consequent 
elevation above their sex, that the Koreans refer fully as 
much to them as to the Pan-su for information regarding 
the outcome of commercial ventures, and of projects of 
personal advancement, as well as for the hidden causes of 



238 D.£MONISM IN KOREA chap. 

the loss of wealth or position, or of adversity or illnesa 
The mtirtang, by an appeal to her familiar daemon, in some 
cases obtains a direct answer, and in others a reply by the 
divining chime, or the rice divination. The latter consiBts 
of throwing down some grains of rice on a table and noting 
the combinations which result. The " divining chime " is 
a hazel wand with a circle of beUs at one end. These are 
shaken violently by the mu-tang, and in the din thus 
created she hears the utterance of the daemon. 

The arranging for the sale of children to daemons is a 
further function of the mu-tang, and is carried on to a veiy 
great extent. The Korean father desires prosperity and 
long life for his boy (a girl being of little account), and the 
sale of the child to a spirit is he believes the best way of 
attaining his object. When the so-called sale has been 
decided on, the father consults the sorceress as to when 
and where it shall be mada The place chosen is usually 
a boulder near home, and the child is there " consecrated " 
to the daemon by the mu-tang with fitting rites. Thence- 
forward, on the 15th day of the 1st moon, and the 3rd 
day of the 3rd moon, worship and sacrifice are ofiTered to 
the boulder. After this act of sale the name of the daemon 
becomes part of the boy's nama It is not an unusual 
thing for the sale to be made to the mvrtaTig herself, who 
as the proxy of her daemon accepts the child in case she 
learns by a magic rite that she may do so. She takes in 
its stead one of its rice bowls and a spoon, and these, 
together with a piece of cotton cloth on which the facts 
concerning the sale of the child are written, are laid up in 
her own house in the room devoted to her daemon. There 
is a famous mu-taTigy whose house I have been in just 



rr THE HOUSE D^MON 239 

outside the south gate of Seoul, who has nrany of these, 
which are placed on tables below the painted daubs of 
daemons ordinarily, but which, on great occasions, are used 
as banners. At the Periodic Festivals offerings are made 
on behalf of these children, who, though they live with 
their parents, know the sorceress or mu-tang as Shin, and 
are considered her children. 

The mu-tang rites are specially linked with the house 
daemon and with Mama the Bmallpox dfemon. The 
house daemon is on the whole a good one, being supposed 
to bring health and happiness, and if invited with due 
ceremony he is willing to take up bis abode under every 
roof. He cannot always keep off disease, and in the 
case of contagious fevers, etc., he disappears until the rite 
of purification has been accomplished and he baa been 
asked to return. The ceremonies attending bis recall 
deserve notice. On this great occasion the mtt-tang in 
office ties a lai^e sheet of paper round a rod of oak, holds 
it upright, and goes out to hunt him. She may find him 
near, as if waiting to be invited back, or at a considerable 
distance, but in either case he makes his presence known 
by shaking the rod so violently that several men cannot 
hold it stiil, and then returns with the mu-iang to the 
house, where he is received with lively demonstrations of 
joy. The paper which was round the stick is folded, a 
few tMsh are put into it, it is soaked in wine, and is then 
thrown up gainst a beam in the house to which it sticks, 
and is followed by some rice which adheres to it. That 
special spot is the abiding place of the daemon. This 
ceremony involves a family in very considerable expense. 

The universal belief that illness is the work of diemons 



240 D^MONISM IN KOREA chap. 

renders the services of a Pan-su or mu-tang necessary 
wherever it enters a house, and in the case of smallpox, 
the universal scourge of Korean childhood, the daemon, 
instead of being exorcised, bottled, or buried, is treated 
with the utmost respect. The name hj which the disease 
is called, " Mama," is the daemon's name. It is said that 
he came from South China, and has infested Korea for 
only 1000 years. On the disease appearing, the mu^ng 
is called in to honour the arrival of the spirit with a feast 
and fitting ceremonial Little or no work is done, and if 
there are neighbours whose children have not had the 
malady, they rest likewise, lest, displeased with their want 
of respect, he should deal hardly with them. The parents 
do obeisance (worship) to the sufiTering child, and address 
it at all times in honorific terms. Danger is supposed 
to be over after the 12th day, when the mu-tang is again 
summoned, and a farewell banquet is given. A miniature 
wooden horse is prepared, and is loaded for the spirit's 
journey with small bags of food and money, fervent and 
respectful adieus' are spoken, and he receives hearty 
good wishes for his prosperous return to his own place ! 

In the course of many centuries the office of the mu^n^ 
has undergone considerable modification. Formerly her 
power consisted in the foretelling of events by the move- 
ments of a turtle on the application of hot iron to his 
back, and by the falling of a leaf of certain trees. Her 
present vocation is chiefly mediatorial It is also becoming 
partially hereditary, her daughter or even daughter-in-law 
taking up her work. The ''call" is considered a grave 
calamity. Ordinarily these women are of the lower class. 
They are frequently worshippers of Buddha, after the gross 



XXXV AN UNCLASSIFIED HORDE 241 

and debased cult which exists in Korea, and place his 
picture along with those of the daemons in the small 
temples in their houses. 

Taking the male and female Shamanate together, the 
Sharrums possess immense power over the people, from 
the clever and ambitious Korean queen, who resorted 
constantly to the Pan-sv, on behalf of the future of the 
Crown Prince, down to the humblest peasant family. 
They are in intimate contact with the people in all 
times of difficulty and affliction, their largest claims 
are conceded, and they are seldom out of employment. 

The daemons whose professed j^ervants the Shamans are, 
and whose yoke lies heavy on Korea, are rarely even 
mythical beings who might possibly have existed in 
human shape. They are legion. They dwell in all matter 
and pervade all space. They are a horde without organisa- 
tion, destitute of genus, species, and classification, created 
out of Korean superstitions, debased Buddhism, and Chinese 
mythical legend. There have been no native attempts at 
their arrangement, and whatever has been done in this 
direction is due to the labours of Mr. G. H. Jones and 
Dr. Landis, from whose lists a few may be chosen as 
specimens. 

The O'lang-ch/mg-hm are five, and some of the more 
important preside over East Heaven, South, West, North, 
and Middle. In Shamain^ houses shrines are frequently 
erected to them, bearing their collective name, to which 
worship is paid. They are held in high honour and are 
prominent in Pan-su rites. At the entrance of many 
villages on the south branch of the Han the villagers 
represent them by posts with tops rudely carved into 
V0L.n B 



242 DiSMONISM IN KOREA chap. 

hideous caricatures of humanity, which are ofttiines 
decorated with straw tassels, and receive offerings of rice 
and firuit as village protectors (see p. 83). 

The Shin-chang are daemon generals said to number 
80,000, each one at the head of a daemon host They fill 
the earth and air, and are specially associated with the 
Pansu, who are capable of summoning them by magic 
formulae to aid in divination and exorcism. Shrines to 
single members of this militant host occur frequently in 
Central Korea, each one containing a highly-coloured daub 
of a gigantic mediaeval warrior, and the words, " I, the Spirit, 
dwell in this place." 

The Tok-gabi are the most dreaded and detested, as 
well as the best known, of all the daemon horde. Tet they 
seem nondescripts, and careful and patient examination 
has only succeeded in rel^ating them to the class of such 
myths as the WHl o' the Wisp and Jack o' Lantern, 
elevated, however, in Korea to the status of genuine devils 
with fetishes of their own. They are r^arded as having 
human originals in the souls of those who have come to 
sudden or violent ends. They are bred on execution- 
grounds and battle-fields, and wherever men perish in 
numbers. They go in overwhelming l^ons, and not only 
dwell in empty houses but in inhabited villages, terrifying 
the inhabitants. They it was who, by taking possession of 
the fine Audience Hall of the Mulberry P^ace in Seoul, 
rendered the buildings untenable, frightful tales being told 
and believed of nocturnal daemon orgies amidst those 
dolefrd splendours. People leave their houses and build 
new ones because of them. Their fetishes may be soeh 
things as a mapH*s hat or the cloak of a yamtm derk. 



XXXV MOUNTAIN DEMONS 243 

rotten with age and dirt, enshrined under a small straw 
booth. Besides the devilry attributed to the Tok-gdbi 
they are accused of many pranks, such as placing the 
covers of iron pots inside them, and pounding doors and 
windows all night, till it seems as if they would be 
smashed, yet leaving no trace of their work. 

The actually unclean spirits, the Sagem, the criminal 
class of the vast " DcBmoneon*' infest Korean life like vermin, 
wandering about embracing every opportunity of hurting 
and molesting man. Against these both Fan-su and mu- 
tang wage continual war by their enchantments, the Pan-su 
by their exorcisms either driving them off or catching 
them and burying them in disgrace, while the mu-tang 
propitiate them and send them off in honoiir. 

Another great group of daemons is the San-Shin Ryimg 
— the spirits of the mountains. I found their shrines in 
all the hilly country, along both branches of the Han, by 
springs and streams, and speciaUj under the shade of big 
trees, and on -4mpeZopsw-covered rocks, a flat rock being a 
specially appropriate site from its suitability for an altar, 
and thus specially " fortimate." The daemon who is the 
tutelary spirit of ginseng, the most valuable export of 
Korea, is greatly honoured. So also is the patron daemon 
of deer-hunters, who is invariably represented in his shrine 
as a fierce-looking elderly man in official dress riding a 
tiger. Surrounding him are altars to his harem, and there 
are also female daemons, mountain spirits, who are pictured 
as women, frequently Japanese. 

The tiger which abounds in Central and Northern 
Korea is understood to be the confidential servant of these 
mountain demons, and when he commits depredations, 



244 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap. 

the people, believing the daemon of the vicinity to be angry, 
hurry with offerings to his nearest shrine. The Koreans 
consider it a good omen when they see in their dreams the 
mountain daemon, either as represented in his shrine, or 
under the form of his representative the tiger. These 
mountain daemons are specially sought by recluses, and 
people ofttimes retire into solitary mountain glens, where, 
by bathing, fasting, and offerings, they strive to gain their 
favour. These spirits, believed to be very powerful, are 
much feared by farmers, and by villagers living near high 
mountains. They think that if when they are out on the 
hill-sides cutting wood they forget to cast the first spoon- 
ful of rice fixjm the bowl to the daemon, they will be 
punished by a severe fall or cut, or some other accident. 
These spirits are capricious and exacting, and for every 
little neglect take vengeance on the members of a farmer's 
household or on his crops or cattle. ' 

The Long-sMn, or Dragon daemons, are water spirits. 
They have no shrines, but the Shamans conduct a somewhat 
expensive ceremony by the sea and river sides in which 
they present them with offerings for the repose of the 
souls of drowned persons. 

The phase of Daemonolatry which is the most commor 
and the first to arrest a traveller's attention is also thi 
most obscure. The Song WTioang Dan (altar of the Hoi; 
Prince), the great Korean altar, rudely built of loose stone 
under the shade of a tree, from the branches of which ai 
suspended such worthless ex votos as strips of paper, rag 
small bags of rice, old clouts, and worn-out shoes, looks lei 
like an altar than a decaying cairn of large size.^ 

^ Mr. G. H. Jones suggests the idea that these uncouth heaps of stor 



XXXV LOCAL DJSMONS 246 

peculiarity of the Simg Whoang Dan is that they are gener- 
ally supposed to be frequented by various daemons, though 
occasionally they are crowned by a shrine to a single spirit. 
Korean travellers make their special plea to a travellers' 
dsBmon who is supposed to be found there, and hang up strips 
of their goods in the overhanging branches, and the sailor 
likewise regards the altar as the shrine of his guardian 
daemon, and bestows a bit of old rope upon it. Further 
than this, when some special bird or beast has destroyed 
insects injurious to agriculture, the people erect a shrine 
to it on these altars or cairns, on which may frequently be 
seen the rude daub of a bird or animal. 

Two spirits, the To-ti-chi Shin and the Chon-Shin, are 
regarded as local daemons, and occupy spots on the 
mountain-sides. They receive worship at funerals, and a 
sacrifice similar to that ofTered in ancestral worship is 
made to them before the body is laid in the earth. Two 
Shamans preside over this, and one of them intones a 
ritual belonging to the occasion. The shrine of Chon-Shin 
is a local temple, a small decayed erection usually found 
outside villages. In Seoul he has a mud or plaster shrine 
in which his picture is enshrined with much ceremony, 
but in the country his fetish is usually a straw booth set 
up over a pair of old shoes under a tree. For the obser- 
vances connected with him all the residents in a neighbour- 
hood are tgj^d. He may be regarded as the chief daemon 
in every district, and it is in his honoiir that the mvrtang 
celebrate the triennial festival formerly described. 

were origiually munitions of war over which tutelary dsemons were 
supposed to brood, and thinks that the transition to an altar would be a 
very natural one. 



246 D^MONISM IN KOREA ohaf. 

The Household Spirits are the last division of the 
Korean Dcemoneon, Song Ju, the spirit of the ridge-pole, 
who presides over the home, occupies a sort of imperial 
position with regard to the other household spirits. 

His fetish consists of some sheets of paper and a paper 
bag containing as many spoonfuls of rice as the household 
is years old on the day when the mu-tang suspends it to 
the cross-beam of the house. 

The ceremony of his inauguration was conducted as 
follows in the case of a householder who was at once a 
scholar, a noble, a rich man, and the headman of a large 
village. A lucky day having been chosen by divination, 
the noble, after grading the site for his house, erected the 
framework, and with great ceremony attached such a 
fetish, duly prepared by the Pan-su, to the cross-beam. 
Prostrations and invocations marked this stage. When 
the building of the house was completed, an auspicious 
day was again chosen by divination, and a great ceremony 
was performed by the mtc-tang for the enshrining of the 
daemon in the home. The mu-tang arranged the ceremonial 
and prepared the offerings, and then with a special wand, 
only used on these occasions, called the spirit who is 
supposed to be under her control, and returning to the 
house solemnly enshrined him in the fetish, to which it is 
correct to add a fresh sheet of paper every year. After 
SoTig Ju was supposed to have had time to feed spiritually 
on the offerings, they were placed before the guests, and a 
great entertainment followed. 

Ti Ju, or the lord of the site, is the next great dsemon, 
but investigations regarding him have been very resultless. 
Little is known, except that offerings are presented to him 



XXXV FAMILY DEMONS 247 

at some spot on the premises, but not inside the house. 
These offerings, which are of food, are made on the 1st, 
2nd, 3rd, and 15th of each month. This food is afterwards 
eaten by the family, and a continual offering is represented 
by a bit of cloth or a scrap of old rope. His fetish is a 
bundle of straw, empty inside, placed on three sticks, but 
in some circumstances a flower-pot with some rice inside 
is substituted. 

Ojp Ju, the kitchen daemon, is the third of the trio which 
are permanently attached to the house. His fetish is a 
piece of cloth or paper nailed to the wall above the cooking 
place. 

After these come the daemons who are attached to the 
family and not the house, the first of them being Cho Warig, 
a spirit of the constellation of the Great Bear, a very 
popular spirit. His shrine is outside the wall, and his 
fetish, to which worship is paid, is a gourd full of cloth 
and paper. Gho Wang is often the daemon familiar of a 
mu'tang. 

Ti Ju, No. 2, is the fate or luck of the family, and every 
household is ambitious to secure hinL His fetish is a 
straw booth three feet high, in which is a flower-pot con- 
taining some rice covered with a stone and paper. . 

The greatest of the family daemons is an ancient and 
historical daemon, Choi Sok, who is regarded as the grand- 
father of San Chin-chm Sok, the daemon of nativity. His 
fetish, unless it becomes rotten or is accidentally destroyed, 
descends from father to son. He has several fetishes, and 
when he receives homage at the Triennial Festival, the 
mtirtang^vLtQ on the dress of an official He is the daemon 
of nativity and the giver of posterity, and is a triple 



/.'..'< 



250 D.£MONISM IN KOREA ohap. 

25. Spirits which roam about the house causing all sorts of 
calamities. 

26. Spirits which cause a man to die away from home. 

27. Spirits which cause men to die as substitutes for others. 

28. Spirits which cause men to die by strangulation. 

29. Spirits which cause men to die by drowning. 

30. Spirits which cause women to die in childbirth. 

31. Spirits which cause men to die by suicide. 

32. Spirits which cause men to die by fire. 

33. Spirits which cause men to die by being beaten. 

34. Spirits which cause men to die by fedls. 

35. Spirits which cause men to die by pestilence. 

36. Spirits which cause men to die by cholera. 

The belief in the efficacy of the performances of the 
mu'tang is enormous. In sickness the very poor half 
starve themselves and pawn their clothing to pay for her 
exorcisms. Her power has been riveted upon the country 
for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The order is said 
to date back 4000 years, and to have been called in China, 
where it was under official regulations, mu-ham. Five 
himdred years ago the foimder of the present dynasty 
prohibited rrm-tang from living within the wadls of Seoul 
— Whence their houses and temples are foimd outside the 
city walls. 

Women are not mu-tang by birth, but of late years it 
has become customary for the girl children of a sorceress 
to go out with her and learn her arts, which is tending to 
give the profession a hereditary aspect. It is now recruited 
partly in this feishion, partly from among hysterical girls, 
and partly for a livelihood ; but outside of these sources, a 
daemon may take possession of any woman, wife, maid, or 
widow, rich or poor, plebeian or patrician, and compel her 



XXXV D^EMONIACAL POSSESSION 261 

to serve him. At the beginning of the possession she 
becomes either slightly or seriously ill, and her illness may 
last four weeks or three years, during which time she 
dreams of a dragon, a rainbow, peach trees in blossom, or of 
a man in armour who is suddenly metamorphosed into an 
animal Under the influence of these dreams she becomes 
like an insane person, and when awake sees many curious 
things, and before long speaks as an oracle of the spirits. 

She then informs her family that messengers from 
Heaven, Earth, and the Lightning have informed her that 
if she is not allowed to practise exorcism, they or their 
domestic animals will die. Should they insist on secluding 
her, her illness shortly terminates fatally. If a daughter 
of a noble family becomes possessed, they probably make 
away with her, in the idea that if madness takes this turn, 
the disgrace would be indelible. 

But things usually go smoothly, and on being allowed 
to have her own way the first thing she does is to go into 
a vacant room and fill it with flowers as an offering to the 
daemons. Then she must obtain the clothing and pro- 
fessional paraphernalia of a deceased mu4ang. The clothing 
may be destroyed after the daemon has taken full possession 
of his new recruit, but the drums and other instnmients 
must be retained. After the possessions of the deceased^' 
mu'tang have been bestowed on the new one who claims 
them, she proceeds to exorcise such bad spirits as may be 
infesting the donor^s house, so as to enable his family to 
live in peace, after which she writes his name on a tablet, 
and placing it in a small room invokes blessings on him 
for three years. 

After this ceremonial has been observed, the mu-tang, 



252 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap. 

fully possessed by a daemon, begins to exercise her very 
important and lucrative profession. Her equipment con- 
sists of a number of dresses, some of them very costly, a 
drum shaped like an hoiir glass, four feet in length, copper 
cymbals, a copper rod, with tinklers suspended from it by 
copper chains, strips of silk and paper banners which float 
roimd her as she dances, fans, umbrellas, wands, images of 
men and animals, brass or copper gongs, and a pair of 
telescope -shaped baskets for scratching, chiefly used in 
cases of cholera, which disease is supposed to result from 
rats climbing about in the human interior. The scratching 
sound made by a peculiar use of these baskets, which 
resembles the noise made by cats, is expected to scare and 
drive away these rodents. 

The preliminaries of exorcism are that the mu-tang 
must subject herself to certain restraints varying from a 
month to three days, during which time she must abstain 
from flesh and fish, and must partially fast. Before an 
exorcism ashes are steeped in water and the sorceress 
takes of this, and sprinkles it as she walks roimd the house, 
afterwards taking pure water and going through the same 
ceremony. 

The almost fabulous sums squeezed by the mu-tang out 
of the people of Seoul are given in a previous chapter. 
It will be observed that in Korea sickness is always 
associated with dsemoniacal possession, and that the ser- 
vices of the Pan-sv,, or mu-taTig, are always requisitioned. 
European medicine and surgery are the most successful 
assailants of this barbarous and degrading system which 
holds the whole nation, in many respects highly civilised, 
in bondage, and the influence of both as practised in con- 



XXXV A ROYAL D-fiMON 263 

nection with " Medical Missions " is tending increasingly 
in the direction of emancipation. 

It would be impossible to say how far the mu-tang is 
self-deceived. In some of her dances, especially in one in 
which she exorcises " The daemon of the Yi family," one of 
the most powerful and malignant of the daemon hierarchy, 
she works herself into such a delirious frenzy that she 
falls down foaming at the mouth, and death is occasionally 
the result of the frantic excitement. 

The " Daemon of the Yi Family '* is invoked in every 
district once in three years by the mu-tang in a formula 
which has been translated thus — " Master and Mistress 
of our Kingdom, may you ever exist in peace. Once in 
every three years we invoke you with music and dancing. 
Oh make this house to be peaceful" K this malignant 
spirit arrives at a house he can only be appeased by the 
death of a man, an ox, or a pig. Therefore when the mu- 
tang becomes aware that he has come to a house or 
neighbourhood, a pig is at once killed, boiled, and offered 
up entire — the exorcist takes two knives and dances a 
sword-dance, working herself into a "fine frenzy," after 
which a box is made and a Korean official hat and robes 
are placed within it, as well as a dress suitable for a palace 
lady. The box is then placed on the top of the family 
clothes chest, and sacrifices are frequently offered there. 
This daemon is regarded as the spirit of a rebellious Crown 
Prince, the sole object of whose daemon existence is to 
injure all with whom he can come into contact. 

A man sometimes marries a mu-tang, but he is invari- 
ably " a fellow of the baser sort," who desires to live in 
idleness on the earnings of his wife. If, as is occasionally 



264 DiEMONISM IN KOREA chap, xxxv 

the case, the mvAarig belongs to a noble family, she is 
only allowed to exorcise spirits in her own house, and 
when she dies she is buried in a hole in a mountain-side 
with the whole paraphernalia of her profession. Some 
mu-tarig do not go abroad for purposes of exorcism. These 
may be regarded as the aristocracy of their profession, and 
many of them are of much repute and live in the suburbs 
of SeouL Those who desire their services send the 
necessary money and oiferings, and the mu-tang exorcise 
the spirits in their own houses. 

The use of straw ropes, and of pieces of paper 
resembling the Shinto gohei, during incantations, with a 
certain similarity between the Shinto and the Shaman 
ceremonies, might suggest a common origin; but our 
knowledge of the Daemonism of Korea is so completely in 
its infancy, that any speculations as to its kinships can be 
of little value, and it is only as a very slight contribution 
to the sum of knowledge of an obscure but very interesting 
subject, that I venture to present these chapters to my 
readers. 

The Koreans, it must be remarked, have no single word 
for Daemonism or Shamanism. The only phrase in use to 
express their belief in daemons who require to be pro- 
pitiated is, Kur-dn wi han-nan Kot (the worship of Spirits). 
Pvlto is Buddhism, Tuto Confucianism, and SorUo Taoism, 
but the termination To, " doctrine," has not yet been aflBxed 
to Daemonism. 



CHAPTEE XXXVI 



SEOUL IN 1897^ 



It was midnight when, by the glory of an October full 
moon, I arrived from Chemulpo at the foot of the rugged 
slope crowned with the irregular, lofty, battlemented city 
wall and picturesque double-roofed gateway of the Gate of 
Staunch Loyalty which make the western entrance to the 
Korean capital so unique and attractive. An arrangement 
had been made for the opening of the gate, and after a 
long parley between the faithful Im and the guard, the 
heavy iron-bolted door creaked back before the united 
efforts of ten men, and I entered Seoul, then under the 
authority of Ye Cha Yim, an energetic and enlightened 
Governor, under whose auspices the western part of the 
city has lost the refuse heaps and foulness, with their con- 
comitant odours, which were its chief characteristic. In 
the streets and lanes not a man, dog, or cat stirred, and 
not a light glimmered from any casement ; but when I 
reached Chong-dong, the foreign quarter, I observed that 



^ I left Korea for China at Christmas 1895, and after spending six 
months in travelling in the Chinese Far West, and three months among the 
Nan-tai San mountains in Japan, returned in the middle of October "^ 
1896, and remained in Seoul until late in the winter of 1896-97. 



y 



256 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

the lower extremity of every road leading in the direction 
of the Eussian Legation was irregularly guarded by several 
slouching Korean sentries, gossiping in knots as they leaned 
on their rifles. 

The grounds of my host's house open on those of the 
King's new palace, and the King and Crown Prince, 
attended by large retinues, were constantly carried through 
them on their way from their asylum in the Bussian 
Legation to perform the customary rites at the spirit 
shrine, to which the fragmentary remain^ of the murdered 
Queen had been removed, to wait until the geomancers 
could decide on an "auspicious" site for her grave, the 
one which had been prepared for her at an enormous 
expense some miles outside the city having just been 
pronoimced "unlucky." 

A few days after my arrival the King went to the 
Kyeng-wun Palace to receive a Japanese prince, and 
courteously arranged to give me an audience afterwards, 
to which I went, attended, as on the last occasion, by the 
British Legation interpreter. The entrances were guarded 
by a number of slouching sentries in Japanese uniforms. 
Their hair, which had been cropped at the time of the 
abolition of the " top-knot," had grown again, and hung 
in heavy shocks behind their ears, giving them a semi- 
barbarous appearance. At the second gate I alighted, no 
chair being permitted to enter, and walked to a very simple 
audience hall, then used for the first time, about 20 feet by 
12 feet, of white wood, with lattice doors and windows, 
both covered with fine white paper, and with fine white 
mats on the floor. 

The King and Crown Prince, both of whom were in 



XXXVI A ROYAL RECEPTION 267 

deep mourning, i,e. in pure white robes with sleeveless 
dresses of exquisitely fine buff grass-cloth over them, andfine 
buff crinoline hats, stood together at the upper end of the 
room, surrounded by eunuchs, court ladies, including the 
reigning favouriteSy the ladies Pak and Om, and Court 
functionaries, all in mourning, the whole giving one an 
impression of absolute spotlessness. The waists of the 
voluminous white skirts of the ladies, which are a yard too 
long for them all round, were as high up as it was possible 
to place them. 

The King and Crown Prince bowed and smiled. I 
made the required three curtseys to each, and the inter- 
preter adopted the deportment required by Court etiquette, 
crouching, looking down, and speaking in an awe-struck 
whisper. I had not seen the King for two years, a period 
of great anxiety and vicissitude to him, but he was not 
looking worn or older, and when I congratulated him on 
his personal security and the resumption of his regal 
functions he expressed himself cordially in reply, with an 
air of genuine cheerfulness. In the brief conversation 
which followed the Crown Prince took part, and showed 
a fair degree of intelligence, as well as a much-improved 
physique. 

Later I had two informal audiences of the King in his 
house in the centre of the mass of the new buildings of the 
Kyeng-wun Palace. It is a detached Korean dwelling 
of the best Korean workmanship, with a deep-eaved, tiled 
roof, the carved beams of which are elaborately painted, 
and their terminals decorated with the five-petalled plum 
blossom, the dynastic emblem. The house consists of a 
hall with a kang floor, divided into one large and two 
VOL. n s 



y 



268 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

small rooms by sliding and removable partitions of firet- 
work, fiUed in with fine tissue paper, the windows which 
occupy the greater part of both sides being of the same 
construction. The very small rooms at each end are 
indicated as the sleeping apartments of the King and his 
son by pale blue silk mattresses laid upon the fine white 
mats which cover the whole floor. The only furniture was 
two ten-leaved white screens. The fastenings of the 
windows and partitions are of very fine Korean brasswork. 
Simplicity could not go further. 

Opposite is the much-adorned spirit shrine of the late 
Queen, connected with the house by a decorated gallery. 
The inner palace enclosure, where these buildings are, is 
very small, and behind the King's house rises into a stone 
terrace. Numerous as is the Bang's guard, it is evident 
that he fears to rely upon it solely, for of two gates 
leading from his house one opens into quarters occupied hy 
Bussian officers, who arrived in Seoul in the autumn oi 
1890, at the King's request, for purposes of militarj 
organisation ; and the other into small barracks occupiec 
by the Bussian drill -instructors of the Korean army 
Through the former he could reach the grounds of th< 
English Legation in one minute, and after his forme 
experiences possibilities of escape must be his first con 
sideration. The small buildings of this new palace wer 
already crowded like a rabbit warren, and when complete 
will contain over 1000 people, including the bodyguarc 
eunuchs, and Court officials innumerable, writers, readen 
palace ladies, palace women, and an immense establishmer 
of cooks, runners, servants, and all the superabundant cm 
useless mtowrage of an Eastern Sovereign, to whom crowc 



XXXVI A ROYAL PHOTOGRAPH 259 

and movement represent power. This congeries of build- 
ings was carefully guarded, and even the Korean soldier 
who attended on me was not allowed to pass the gate. 

The King hadgiven me permission to take his photograph 
for Queen Victoria, and I was arranging the room for the 
purpose when the interpreter shouted " His Majesty," and 
almost before I could step back and curtsey, the King and 
Crown Prince entered, followed by the Ofl&cers of the 
Household and several of the Ministers, a posse of the 
new-fangled police crowding the verandah outside. The 
Sovereign, always courteous, asked if I would like to take 
one of the portraits in his royal robea The rich crimson 
brocade and the gold-embroidered plastrons on his breast 
and shoulders became him well, and his pose was not 
deficient in dignity. He took some trouble to arrange the 
Crown Prince to the best advantfige, but the result was 
unsuccessfuL After the operation was over he examined 
the different parts of the camera with interest, and seemed 
specially cheerfuL 

At a farewell audience some weeks later the King 
reverted to the subject of a British Minister, accredited 
solely to Korea ; and the interpreter added, as an aside, 
"His Majesty is very anxious about this." He hardly 
seemed to realise that, even if a change in the representation 
were contemplated, it could scarcely be carried out while 
Sir Claude Macdonald, who is accredited to both Courts, 
remains Minister at Peking. 

The Eling was for more than a year the guest of the 
Bussian Legation, an arrangement most distasteful to a 
large number of his subjects, who naturally regarded it as 
a national humiliation that their Sovereign should be 



260 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

under the protection of a foreign flag. Eumours of plots 
for removing him to the Palace from which he escaped 
were rife, and there were days on which he feared to visit 
the Queen's tablet-house unless Bussian officers walked 
beside his chair. 

Mr. Waeber, the Kussian Minister, had then been in 
Korea twelve years. He is an able and faithful servant 
of Eussia. He was trusted by the King and the whole 
foreign community, and up to the time of the Eegira had 
been a warm and judicious friend of the Koreans. His 
guidance might have prevented the King from making 
infamous appointments and arbitrary arrests, from cause- 
lessly removing officials who were working well, and from 
such reckless extravagances as a costly Embassy to the 
European Courts and a foolish increase of the army and 
police force. But he remained passive, allowing the 
Koreans to "stew in their own juice," acting possibly 
under orders from home to give Korea " rope enough to 
hang herself," a proceeding which might hereafter give 
Bussia a legitimate excuse for interference. Apart from 
such instructions, it must remain an inscrutable mystery 
why so excellent a man and so capable a diplomatist when 
absolutely master of the situation neglected to aid the 
Sovereign with his valuable advice, a course which would 
have met with the cordial approval of all his colleagues. 

Be that as it may, the liberty which the King has 
enjoyed at the Bussian Legation and since has not been 
for the advantage of Korea, cmd recent policy contrasts 
unfavourably with that pursued during the period of 
Japanese ascendency, which, on the whole, was in the 
direction of progress and righteoosnesa 



XXXVI THE KING^S LIBERTY 261 

Old abuses cropped up daily, Ministers and other 
favourites sold offices unblushingly, and when specific 
charges were made against one of the King's chief 
favourites, the formal demand for his prosecution was 
met by making him Vice -Minister of Education! The 
King, freed from the control of the mutinous officers and 
usurping Cabinet of 8th October 1895, from the Queen's 
strong though often unscrupulous guidance, and from 
Japanese ascendency, and finding himself personally safe, 
has reverted to some of the worst traditions of his dynasty, 
and in spite of certain checks his edicts are again law and 
his will absolute. And it is a will at the mercy of any 
designing person who gets hold of him and can work upon 
his fears and his desire for money — of the ladies Pdk and 
OrrVy who assisted him in his flight, and of favourites and 
sycophants low and many, who sell or bestow on members 
of their families offices they have little difficulty in obtain- 
ing from his pliable good nature. With an ample Civil 
list and large perquisites he is the most impecunious 
person in his dominions, for in common with all who 
occupy official positions in Korea he is surrounded by 
hosts of grasping parasites and hangers-on, for ever 
clamouring " Give, Give." 

Men were thrown into prison without reason, some of 
the worst of the canaille were made Ministers of State, 
the murderer of Kim Ok-yun was appointed Master of' 
Ceremony, and a convicted criminal, a man whose life has 
been one career of sordid crime, was made Minister of 
Justice. Consequent upon the surreptitious sale of 
offices, the seizure of revenue on its way to the Treasury, 
the appointment of men to office for a few days, to give 



262 SEOUL IN 1897 OHAP. 

them " rank " and to enable them to quarter on the public 
purse a host of impecunious relations and friends, and the 
custom among high officials of resigning office on the 
occasion of the smallest criticism, the administration is in 
a state of constant chaos, and the ofttimes well-meaning 
but always vacillating Sovereign, absolute without an idea 
of how to rule, the sport of favourites usually unworthy, 
who work upon his amiability, the prey of greedy parasites, 
and occasionally the tool of foreign adventurers, paralyses 
all good government by destroying the elements of 
permanence, and renders economy and financial reform 
difficult and spasmodic by consenting to schemes of reck- 
less extravagance urged upon him by interested schemers. 
Never has the King made such havoc of reigning as 
since he regained his freedom under the roof of the 
Bussian Embassy. 

I regret to have to write anything to the King's dis- 
advantage. Personally I have found him truly courteous 
and kind, as he is to all foreigners. He has amiable 
characteristics, and I beUeve a certain amount of patriotic 
feeling. But as he is an all-important element of the 
present and future condition of Korea, it would be mislead- 
ing and dishonest to pass over without remark such 
characteristics of his chauracter and rule as are disastrous 
to Korea, bearing in mind in extenuation of them that 
he is the product of five centuries of a dynastic tradition 
which has practically taught that public business and the 
interests of the country mean for the Sovereign simply 
getting offices and pay for favourites, and that statesman- 
ship consists in playing off one Minister against another. 

Novelties in the Seoul streets were the fine physique 





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XXXVI KUSSIA EN EVIDENGE 263 

and long grey uniforms of Colonel Putiata and his sub- 
ordinates, three officers and ten drill- instructors, who 
arrived to drill and discipline the Korean army, the 
American military adviser having proved a failure, 
while the troops drilled by the Japanese were mutinous 
and rapacious, and the Japanese drill-instructors had 
retired with the rest of the rSgime. This "Military 
Commission" was doing its work with characteristic 
vigour and thoroughness, and the flat -faced, pleasant- 
looking non-commissioned officers, with their drilled 
slouch, serviceable imiforms, and long boots, were always 
an attraction to the crowd. A novelty, too, was the sight 
of the Korean cadet corps of thirty-seven young men of 
good families and seven officers, marching twice daily 
between the drill-ground of the Korean troops close to 
the Kyeng-pok Palace and their own barracks behind the 
Eussian Legation, with drums beating and colours flying. 
These young men, who are to receive a two years' military 
education from Eussian officers, are under severe discipline, 
and were greatly surprised to find that servants were a 
prohibited luxury, and that their training involved the 
cleaning and keeping bright of their own rifles and 
accoutrements, and hard work for many hours of the day. 
The army now consists of 4300 men in Seoul, 800 of 
whom are drilled as a bodyguard for the King, and 1200 
in the provinces, in Japanese uniforms, and equipped (so 
far as they go) with 3000 Berdan rifles presented by 
Eussia to Korea. The drill and words of command are 
Eussian. 

A standing army of 2000 men would have been 
sufficient for all purposes in Korea, and as far as her need 



264 SEOUL IN 1897 ohjp. 

goes an army of 6000 is an imblushiog extravagance and 

_ji heavy drain on her resourcea. It ia moat probable that 

a force drilled and armed by KusBia, accustomed to obey 

Russian ordeiB and animated by an intense hereditary 

hatred of Japan, would 

prove a valuable corps 

d!arm4e to Russia iu the 

event of wir with that 

ambitious and restless 

empire 

llie old l^JiU or gevs- 
£armes with then pictur- 
esque dresses and long red 
plumes are now only to 
be seen and that rarely, 
in attend mce on officials 
of the Korean Govern- 
_ ment Seoul is now 
pohced much overpoliced, 
foi it has a force of 1200 
men when a quarter of 
that number would be 
sufficient foi its orderly 
population E\ ery where 
numbers of slouching men 
on and off duty, in Japanese semi-military uniforms, with 
shocks of hair behind their ears and swords in nickel- 
plated scabbards by their sides, suggest useless and extra- 
v^ant expenditure. The soldiers and police, by an unwist 
arrangement made by the Japanese, and now scarcely 
possible to alter, are enormously overpaid, the soldiers 




xxxTt KOR&AN SOUUKtiS ANh IMI.h'K 

reoei%'iDg five dollam Aiul « hull' tk moitll), " itU rt»ttt(t," nitij^ 
the police from eight to ten, oiilj^ Hiiilti))! l\wiv rkxul Ttvi 
Korean army is itbovil Iho iiuwt IukIiIj' |iitlil tit t)ti> WdlKlil 
The average Kofoau in hin ^ix'itl U^ny y\i»»it'\'*, )iltlli)l 
perishable, brond-brimiuuii hal, i>u|Mki>U'ii<t hIiuivdn, itiiil l>«l||l 
flapping whilo conl, i» 
usually & docilo uiid linrtii- 
lesa mail; but Eurii]ittii) 
clothes aud aniut traiiHrunti 
him into a Lruculunt, iil> 
subordinate, and of'ttiiiiiM 
brutal person, without civic 
sympathies or patnotimir, 
greedy of power and fi|K>iI. 
DetacbmcDta of iK'tIdi<>rii 
seattered tbrouKh thu 
eosmtxj ware a terror to ^] 
t people ftrm\ th*ir 







.f «i>»bMMMI tMtflKl 






266 SEOUL m 1897 chap. 

channels on both sides, bridged by stone slabs, had replaced 
the foul alleys, which were breeding-grounds of cholera. 
Narrow lanes had been widened, slimy runlets had been 
paved, roadways were no longer " free coups " for refuse, 
bicyclists " scorched " along broad, level streets, " express 
waggons " were looming in the near future, preparations 
were being made for the building of a French hotel in a 
fine situation, shops with glass fronts had been erected in 
numbers, an order forbidding the throwing of refuse into 
the streets was enforced, — refuse matter is now removed 
from the city by official scavengers, and Seoul, from having 
been the foulest is now on its way to being the cleanest 
city of the Far East ! 

This extraordinary metamorphosis was the work of four 
months, and is due to the energy and capacity of the Chief 
Commissioner of Customs, ably seconded by the capable 
and intelligent Governor of the city, Ye Cha Yun, who 
had acquainted himself with the working of municipal 
affairs in Washington, and who with a rare modesty refused 
to take any credit to himself for the city improvements, 
saying that it was all due to Mr. M'Leavy Brown. 

Old Seoul, with its festering alleys, its winter accumula- 
tions of every species of filth, its ankle-deep mud and its 
foulness,which lacked the redeeming elementof picturesque- 
ness, is being fast improved off the face of the earth. Yet 
it is chiefly a restoration, for the dark, narrow alleys which 
lingered on till the autumn of 1896 were but the result of 
gradual encroachments on broad roadways, the remains of 
the marginal channels of which were discovered. 

What was done (and is being done) was to pull down 
the houses, compensate their owners, restore the old 



SEOUL BEDIVIVVS 



267 



I 



:haiiiielB, and insist that the houses should be rebuilt at 
a uniform distance behind them. Along the fine broad 
streets thus restored tiled roofs have largely replaced 
thatch, in many cases the lower parts of the walla have 
been rebuilt of stone instead of wattle, and attempts at 
decoration and neatness are apparent in many of the house 
and shop fronts, while many of the smoke-holes, which 
vomit forth the smoke of the kang fires directly into the 
street, are now fitted with glittering chimneys, constructed 
out of American kerosene tins. 

Some miles of broad streets are now available as pro- 
menades, and are largely taken advantage of; business 
looked much brisker than formerly, the shops made more 
display, and there was an air of greater prosperity, which 
has been taken advantage of by the Hong-Kong and 
Shanghai Bank, which has opened a branch at Chemulpo, 
and will probably ere long appear in the capital. 

It is not, however, only in the making of broad thorough- 
fares that the improvement consists. Very many of the 
narrow lanes have been widened, their roadways curved 
and gravelled, and stone gutters have been built along the 
sides, in some cases by the people themselves. Along with 
much else, the pungent, peculiar odour of Seoul has vanished, 
Sanitary regulations are enforced, and civilisation has 
reached such a height that the removal of the anow from 
the front of the bouses is compulsory on all householders. 
So great is the change that I searched in vain for any 
remaining representative slum which I might photographfor 
this chapter as an illustration of Seoul in 1894. It must be 
remarked, however, that the capital is being reconstructed 
on Korean lines, and is not being Europeanised 



268 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

Chong-dong, however, the quarter devoted to Foreign 
Legations, Consulates, and Mission agencies, would have 
nearly ceased to be Korean had not the King set down the 
Kyeng-wun Palace with its crowded outbuildings in the 
midst of the foreign residences. Most of the native 
inhabitants have been bought out. Wide roads with foreign 
shops have been constructed. The French have built a 
Legation on a height, which vies in grandeur with that of 
Bussia, and the American Methodist Episcopal Mission 
has finished a large red brick church, which, like the 
Boman Cathedral, can be seen from all quarters. 

The picturesque Peking Pass, up and down whose 
narrow, rugged pathway generations of burdened baggage 
animals toiled and suffered, and which had seen the 
splendours of successive Chinese Imperial Envoys at the 
accession of the Korean Kings, has lost its identity. Its 
rock ledges, holes, and boulders have disappeared — the 
rocky gash has been mdened, and the sides chiselled 
into smoothness, and under the auspices of the Bussian 
Minister a broad road, with retaining walls and fine 
culverts, now carries the traffic over the lowered height. 

Many other changes were noticeable. The Tai-won 
Kun, for so many years one of the chief figures in Korean 
politics, was practically a prisoner in his own palace. The 
Eastern and Western Palaces, with their enormous accom- 
modation and immense pleasure-grounds, were deserted, 
and were already beginning to decay. The Japanese 
soldiers had vacated the barracks so long occupied by 
them close to the Kyeng-pok Palace, and, reduced to the 
modest numbers of a Legation-guard, were quartered in 
the Japanese settlement ; parties of missionaries who had 



"1 



XXXVI A KOREAN ESTIMATE OF FOREIGNERS 269 

hived ofif from Chong-dong were occupying groups of houses 
in various parts of the capital, and there was a singular 
" boom " in schools, accompanied by a military craze, which 
* aflfected not the scholars only, but the boys of Seoul 
generally. 

But it must be remarked in connection with educa- 
tion in Korea that so lately as the close of 1896 a book, 
called G(mfvmanist Scholars* Handbook of the Latitudes and 
LongitudeSy had been edited by Sin Ki Sun, Minister of 
Education, prefaced by two Councillors of the Education 
Department, and published at Government expense, in 
which the following sentences occur : — 

P. 52 : " Europe is too far away from the centre of 
civilisation, t.a the Middle Kingdom; hence Russians, 
Turks, English, French, Germans, and Belgians look more 
like birds and beasts than men, and their languages sound 
like the chirping of fowls." 

Again : " According to the views of recent generations, 
what westerners call the Christian Eeligion is vulgar, 
shallow, and erroneous, and is an instance of the vileness 
of Barbarian customs, which are notworthy of serious discus- 
sion. . . . They worship the heavenly spirits, but do not 
sacrifice to parents, they insult heaven in every way, and 
overturn the social relations. This is truly a type of 
Barbarian vileness, and is not worthy of treatment in our 
review of foreign customs, especially as at this time the 
religion is somewhat on the wane. 

" Europeans have planted their spawn in every country 
of the globe except China. All of them honour this 
religion (!), but we are surprised to find that the Chinese 
scholars and people have not escaped contamination by it." 



270 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

On p. 42 it is said : " Of late the so-called Ye Su Kyo 
(Christianity) has been trying to contaminate the world 
with its barbarous teachings. It deceives the masses by 
its stories of Heaven and Hell : it interferes with the rites 
of ancestral worship, and interdicts the custom of bowing 
before the gods of Heaven and Earth. These are the ravings 
of a disordered intellect, and are not worth discussing." 

P. 50 : " How grand and glorious is the Empire of 
China, the Middle Kingdom! She is the largest and 
richest in the world. The grandest men of the world have 
all come from the Middle Empire." 

This tirade from an official pen was thought worthy of 
a remonstrance from the foreign representatives. 

The graceful Pai-low, near the Peking Pass, at which 
generations of Korean kings had publicly acknowledged 
Chinese suzerainty by awaiting there the Imperial Envoy 
who came to invest them with regal rights, was removed, 
and during my sojourn the foundation of an arch to com- 
memorate the assumption of Independence by Korea in 
January 1895 was laid near the same spot, in presence of 
a vast concourse of white-robed men. An Independence 
Club, with a disused Royal Pavilion near the stumps of 
the Pai'Um for its Club House, had been established to 
commemorate and conserve the national autonomy, and 
though the entrance fee is high, had already a membership 
of 2000. 

After a number of patriotic speeches had been made on 
the occasion of the laying of the foundation of the independ- 
ence arch, the Club entertained the Foreign Legations and 
all the foreign residents at a rechercJU " collation " in this 
building ; speeches were made both by Koreans and the 



THE SEOUL PRESS S 

Foreign Eepresentativea, and an extraordinary innovation 
was introduced. "Waiters were dispensed with, and the 
Committee of the Club, the Governor of Seoul, and several 
of the Ministers of State themselves attended upon the 
guests with much grace and courtesy. 

One of the most important events in Seoul was the 
eatablishment in April 1896 by Dr. Jaiaohn of the Indt- 
pmdeTit, a two-page tri-weekly newspaper in English and 
the Korean script, enlarged early in 1897 to four pages, 
and published separately in each language. Only those 
who have formed some idea of the besotted ignorance of the 
Korean concerning current events in his own country, and 
of the credulity which makes bim the victim of every 
rumour set afloat in the capital, can appreciate the 
significance of this step and its probable effect in enlighten- 
ing the people, and in creating a public opinion which shall 
eit in judgment on regal and official misdeeds. It is 
already fulfilling an important function in unearthing 
abuses and dragging them into daylight, and is creating 
a desire for rational education and reasonable reform, 
and is becoming something of a terror to evil-doers. Dr. 
Jaisohn (So Chia P'il) ia a Korean gentleman educated 
in America, and has the welfare of his country thoroughly 
at heart. 

The sight of newsboys passing through the streets with 
bundles of a newspaper in En-mun under their arms, and 
of men reading them in their shops, is among the novelties 
of 1897. Besides the Independ-ent, there are now in Seoul 
two weeklies in En-mun, the Korean Christian Advocate, 
and the Christian News; and the Korean Independence 
Club publishes a monthly magazine. The Chosen, dealing 



272 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

with politics, science, and foreign news, which has 2000 
subscribers. Seoul has also a paper, the Kanjo Shimio, 
or SeotU News, in mixed Japanese and Korean script, 
published on alternate days, and there are newspapers in 
the Japanese language, both in Fusan and Chemulpo. All 
these, and the admirable Korean Repository, are the growth 
of the last three years. 

The faculty of combination, by which in Korea as in 
China the weak find some measure of protection against 
the strong, is being turned to useful account. This Kyei, 
or principle of association, which represents one of the 
most noteworthy features of Korea, develops into insur- 
ance companies, mutual benefit associations, money-lending 
syndicates, tontines, marriage and burial clubs, great 
trading guilds, and many others. 

With its innumerable associations, only a few of which 
I have alluded to, Korean life is singularly complex ; and 
the Korean business world is far more fully organised than 
ours, nearly all the traders in the country being members 
of guilds, powerfully bound together, and having the 
common feature of mutual helpfulness in time of need. 
This habit of united action, and the measure of honesty 
which is essential to the success of combined undertaldngs, 
supply the framework on which various joint-stock com- 
panies are being erected, among which one of the most 
important is a tannery. Korean hides have hitherto been 
sent to Japan to be manufactured, owing to caste and 
superstitious prejudices against working in leather. The 
establishment of this company, which brought over 
Japanese instructors to teach the methods of manufacture, 
has not only made an end of a foolish prejudice, in the 



XXXVI KOREAN LAW COURTS 273 

capital at least, but is opening a very lucrative industry, 
and others are following. 

As may be expected in an Oriental country, the ad- 
ministration of law in Korea is on the whole infamoua 
It may be said that a body of law has yet to be created, as 
well as the judges who shall administer it equably. A 
mixed Committee of Bevision has been appointed, but the 
Korean members show a marked tendency to drop off, and 
no legal reform, solely the work of foreigners, would carry 
weight with the people. Mr. Greathouse, a capable 
lawyer and legal adviser to the Law Department, has been 
able to prevent some infamous transactions, but on the 
whole the Seoul Law Court does little more than administer 
injustice and receive bribes. Of the two Law Courts of 
the capital, the Supreme Court, under the supervision of 
the Minister and Vice-Minister of Justice, and in which 
the foreign adviser sits with the judges to advise in 
important cases, is the more hopeful; yet one of the 
most disgraceful of late appointments has been in connec- 
tion with this department. The outrageous decisions, the 
gross bribery, and the axitual atrocities of the Seoul Court 
are likely to bring about its abolition, and I will not 
enlarge upon them. 

One of the most striking changes introduced into the 
Seoul of 1897 is the improvement in the prison, which is 
greatly owing to Mr. A. B. Stripling, formerly of the 
Shanghai Police, who, occupying a position as adviser to 
the Police Department, is carrying out prison reforms, 
originally suggested by the Japanese, in a humane and 
enlightened manner. Torture has disappeared from the 
great city prison, but there were dark rumours that some 
V0L.n T 



274 SEOUL IN 1897 chap. 

of the political prisoners, so lately as January 1897, were 
subjected to it elsewhera 

My experience of Eastern prisons, chiefly in Asia Minor, 
China, Persia, and a glimpse of a former prison in Seoul, 
have given me a vivid impression of the contrast presented 
by the present system. Suirounding a large quadrangle, 
with the chief gaoler's house in the centre, the rooms, not 
to be called cells, are large, airy, light, and well ventilated, 
with boarded floors covered with mats, and plenty of air 
space below. It is true that on the day I visited them 
some of the prisoners were shivering, and shivered more 
vigorously as an appeal to my compassion, but then the 
mercury was at IS'' F., and this is not a usual temperature. 
They have a large bathroom with a stove on the Japanese 
plan. Their diet consists of a pint of excellent soup 
twice a day, with a large bowl of rice, and those who go 
out to work get a third meal This ample diet costs l^d. 
per day. 

There were from twelve to eighteen prisoners in each 
ordinary room, and fifty were awaiting trial in one roomy 
halL A few under sentence, two of them to death, wore 
long wooden cangv^es, but I did not see any fetters. They 
are allowed to bring in their own mattresses, mats, and 
pillows for extra comfort. On the whole they were clean, 
cleaner than the ordinary coolies outsida A perforated 
wooden bar attached to the floor, with another with 
corresponding perforations above it, secures the legs of the 
prisoners at night. The sick were lying thickly on the 
hot floor of a room very imperfectly lighted, but probably 
the well would have been glad to change with them. 

There were 225 prisoners altogether, all men. Classifi- 



xxxvi THE CITY PRISON 275 

cation is still in the future. Murderers and pilferers 
occupied the same room, and colonels of raiments accused 
of a serious conspiracy were with convicted felons, who 
might or might not be acting as spies and informers ; a 
very fine-looking man, sentenced for Life, the first magis- 
trate in Korea ever convicted and punished for bribery, 
and that on the complaint of a simple citizen, was in a 
''cell" with criminals wearing cangues. Some of the 
sentences seemed out of proportion to the ofiences, as, for 
instance, a feeble old man was immured for three years for 
cutting and carrying off pine brush for fuel, and an old 
blind man of some position was incarcerated for ten years 
for the violation of a grave under circumstances of pro- 
vocation. 

Much has been done in the way of prison reform, and 
much remains to be done, specially in the direction of 
classification, but still the great Seoul prison contrasts 
most fevourably with the prisons of China and other unre- 
formed Oriental countries. Torture is at least nominally 
abolished, and brutal exposures of severed heads and 
headless trunks, and beating and slicing to death, were 
made an end of during the ascendency of Japan. After 
an afternoon in the prison of Seoul, I could hardly believe 
it possible that only two years before I had seen severed 
hmnan heads hanging from tripod stands and lying on the 
ground in the throng of a business street, and headless 
bodies lying in their blood on the road outside the East 
Gate. 

To mention the changes in Seoul would take another 
chapter. Dr. Allen, now U.S. Minister to Korea, said that 
Hie last four months of 1896 had seen more alterations 



276 SEOUL IN 1897 chap.xxxvi 

than the previous twelve years of his residence in the 
countrfr, and the three months of my last visit brought 
something new every week. 

On October 12th, 1897» the King, with solemn cere- 
monies at the altar of Heaven, assumed the title of 
Emperor, and afterwards announced that in future Korea 
would be known as Dai Han, Great Han« 

As a foil to so much that is indicative of progress, I 
conclude this chapter by mentioning, on the authority of 
the Governor of Seoul, that in January 1897 there were in 
the capital a thousand mu-tang, or sorceresses, earning on 
an average fifteen dollars a month each, representing an 
annual expenditure by that single city of a hundred and 
eighty thousand dollars on dealings with the spirits, exclu- 
sive of the large sums paid to the blind sorcerers for their 
services, and to the geomancers, whose claims on the occa- 
sion of the interment of any one of rank and wealth are 
simply monstrous. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 



LAST WOBDS OK KOREA 



Tex patient reader has now learned with me something 
of Korean history during the last three years, as well as 
of the reorganised methods of government, and the eduea- 
tion, trade, and finance of the country. He has also by 
proxy travelled in the interior, and has Uved among the 
peasant farmers, seeing their industries, the huckstering 
which passes for trade, something of their domestic life 
and habits, and the superstitions by which they are en- 
slavedy and has acquired some knowledge of the official 
and patrician exactions under which they suffer. He has 
seen the Koreans at home, with their limpness, laziness, 
dependence, and poverty, and Koreans under Bussian 
role raised into a thrifty and prosperous population. He 
can to some extent judge for himself of the prospects of a 
oonntiy which is incapable of standing abne, and which 
could support double its present population, and of the value 
of a territory which is possibly coveted by two Powers. 
Having acted as his guide so far, I should like to conclude 
with afew words on some of the subjects which have been 
glanced at in the course of these volumes. 



278 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

-'' Korea is not necessarily a poor country. Her resources 
are undeveloped, not exhausted. Her capacities for suc- 
cessful agriculture are scarcely exploited. Her climate is 
superb, her rainfall abundant, and her soil productive. 
Her hills and valleys contain coal, iron, copper, lead, 
and gold. The fisheries along her coast-line of 1740 
miles might be a source of untold wealth. She is in- 
habited by a hardy and hospitable race, and she has no 
beggar class. 

On the other hand, the energies of her people lie 
dormant. The upper classes, paralysed by the most 
absurd of social obligations, spend their Uves in in- 
activity. To the middle class no careers are open ; there 
are no skilled occupations to which they can turn their 
energies. The lower classes work no harder than is 
necessary to keep the wolf from the door, for very 
sufficient reasons. Even in Seoul, the largest mercantile 
establishments have hardly risen to the level of shops. 
Everything in Korea has been on a low, poor, mean leveL 
Class privil^es, class and official exactions, a total absence 
of justice, the insecurity of all earnings, a Gk)vemment 
which has carried out the worst traditions on which all 
unreformed Oriental Gk)vemments are based, a class of 

. official robbers steeped in intrigue, a monarch enfeebled 
by the seclusion of the palace and the pettinesses of the 
Seraglio, a close alliance with one of the most corrupt of 
empires, the mutual jealousies of interested foreigners, 
and an all -pervading and terrorising superstition have 
done their best to reduce Korea to that condition of 
resourcelessness and dreary squalor in which I formed 

/ my first impression of her. 



xxxvn "SORNERS" AND "SORNING*' 279 

Nevertheless the resources are there, in her seas, her 
soil, and her hardy population. 

A great and universal curse in Korea is the habit in 
which thousands of able-bodied men indulge of hanging, 
or "soming," on relations or friends who are better oflf 
than themselves. There is no shame in the transaction, 
and there is no public opinion to condemn it. A man 
who has a certain income, however small, has to support 
many of his own kindred, his wife's relations, many of 
his own friends, and the friends of his relatives. This 
partly explains the rush for Government offices, and their 
position as marketable commodities. To a man burdened 
with a horde of hangers-on, the one avenue of escape is 
official life, which, whether high or low, enables him to 
provide for them out of the public purse. This accounts 
for the continual creation of offices, with no other real 
object than the pensioning of the relatives and friends of 
the men who rule the country. Above all, this explains 
the frequency of conspiracies and small revolutions in 
Korea. Principle is rarely at stake, and no Korean 
revolutionist intends to risk his Kfe in support of any 
conviction. 

Hundreds of men, strong in health and of average 
intelligence, are at this moment hanging on for everything, 
even their tobacco, to high officials in Seoul, eating three 
meals a day, gossiping and plotting misdeeds, the feeling 
of honourable independence being unknown. When it is 
desirable to get rid of them, or it is impossible to keep 
them longer, offices are created or obtained for them. 
Hence Grovemment employment is scarcely better than a 
"free coup" for this class of rubbish. The factious 



280 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

political disturbances which have disgraced Korea for 
many years have not been conflicts of principle at all, 
but fights for the Grovemment position which gives its 
holder the disposal of offices and money. The suspicious- 
ness which prevents high officials from working together 
is also partly due to the desire of every Minister to get 
more influence with the King than his colleagues, and 
so secure more appointments for his relations and 
friends. The author of the Korean Dictionary states 
that the word for work in Korean is synonymous with 
" loss," " evil,** " misfortune," and the man who leads an 
idle life proves his right to a place among the gentry. 
The strongest claim for office which an official puts 
forward for a prot^ is that he cannot make a living. 
Such persons when appointed do little, and often nothing, 
except draw their salaries and "squeeze" where they 
can! 

I have repeated almost ad nauseam that the cultivator 
of the soil is the tdtimaU grange. The feirmers work 
harder than any other class, and could easily double the 
production of the land, their methods, though somewhat 
primitive, being fairly well adapted to the soil and climate. 
But having no security for their gains, they are content 
to produce only what will feed and clothe their femulies, 
and are afraid to build better houses or to dress respect- 
ably. There are innumerable peasant feurmers who have 
gone on reducing their acreage of culture year by year, 
owii^ to the exactions and forced loans of magistrates 
and ffang-bans, and who now only raise what will enable 
them to procure three meals a day. It is not wonderfid 
that dasses whose manifest destiny is to be squeezed. 



xxxvn FINANCIAL REFORM 281 

should have sunk down to a dead level of indiiGfereiice, 
inertia, apathy, and listlessness. 

In spite of reforms, the Korean nation still consists of 
but two classes, the Bobbers and the Bobbed, — ^the official 
class recruited from the yang-hans, the licensed vampires 
of the country, and the Ha -in, literally "low men," a 
residuum of fully four-fifths of the population, whose 
raison cPitre is to supply the blood for the vampires to 
suck. 

Out of such unpromising materials the new nation has 
to be constructed, by education, by protecting the produc- 
ing classes, by punishing dishonest officials, and by the 
imposition of a labour test in all Government offices, i,e, 
by paying only for work actually done. 

That reforms are not hopeless, if carried out under 
firm and capable foreign supervision, is shown by what 
has been accomplished in the Treasury Department in 
one year. No Korean office was in a more chaotic and 
corrupt condition, and the ramifications of its corruption 
were spread all through the Provinces. Much was hoped 
when Mr. M'Leavy Brown accepted the thankless position 
of Financial Adviser, from his known force of character 
and remarkable financial capacity, but no one would have 
ventured to predict what has actually occurred. 

Although his efforts at financial reform have been 
thwarted at every turn, not alone by the rapacity of the 
King's male and female favourites, and the measureless 
cunning and craft of corrupt officials, who incite the 
Sovereign to actions concerning money which are subver- 
sive of the fairest schemes of financial rectitude, but by 
chicane, fraud, and corruption in every department; by 



282 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

the absence of trustworthy subordinates; by in&mous 
traditional customs ; and the £Eu^t that every man in office, 
and every man hoping for office, is pledged by his personal 
interest to oppose every effort at reform actively or 
passively, Korean finance stands thus at the dose of 
1897. 

In a few months the Augean stable of the Treasury 
Department in Seoul has been cleansed ; the accounts are 
kept on a uniform system, and with the utmost exacti- 
tude ; " value received " precedes payments for work ; an 
army of drones, hanging on to all departments and sub- 
sisting on public money, has been disbanded ; a partial 
estimate has been formed of the revenue which the 
Provinces ought to produce; superfluous officials un- 
worthily appointed find that their salaries are not 
forthcoming; eveiy man entitled to receive payment is 
paid at the end of every month; nothing is in arrears; 
great public improvements are carried out with a careful 
supervision which ensures rigid economy; the accounts 
of every Department undergo strict scrutiny ; no detail is 
thought unworthy of attention; and instead of Korea 
being bankrupt, as both her friends and enemies supposed 
she would be in July 1896, she closed the financial year 
in April 1897 with every account paid and a million and 
a half in the Treasury, out of which she has repaid one 
million of the Japanese loan of three millions. If foreign 
advisers of similar calibre and capacity were attached to 
all the Departments of State similar results might in time 
be obtained. 

One thing is certain, that the war and the period of the 
energetic ascendency of Japan have given Korea so rude a 



xxxvn THREE YEARS OF CHANGE 283 

shake, and have so thoroughly discredited various customs 
and institutions previously venerated for their antiquity, 
that no retrograde movements, such as have been to some 
extent in progress in 1897, can replace her in the old 
grooves. 

Seoul is Korea for most practical purposes, and the 
working of the Western leaven, the new impulses and 
modes of thought introduced by Western education, the 
inevitable contact with foreigners, and the influence of a 
free Press are through Seoul slowly affecting the nation. 
Under the shadow of Chinese suzerainty the Korean yang- 
hem enjoyed practically unlimited opportunities for the 
extortions and tyrannies which were the atmosphere of 
patrician life. Japan introduced a new theory on this 
subject, and practically gave the masses to understand that 
they possess rights which the classes are bound to respect, 
and the Press takes the same line. 

It is slowly dawning upon the Korean peasant farmer, 
through the medium of Japanese and Western teaching, 
that to be an ultimate sponge is not his inevitable 
destiny, that he is entitled to civil rights, equality before 
the eye of the law, and protection for his earnings. 

The more important of the changes during the last 
three years which are beneficial to Korea may be sum- 
marised thus : The connection with China is at an end, 
and with the victories of Japan the Korean belief in the 
unconquerable military power of the Middle Kingdom has 
been exploded, and the alliance between two political 
systems essentially corrupt has been severed. The dis- 
tinction between patrician and plebeian has been abolished, 
on paper at least, along with domestic slavery, and the 



284 LAST WOBDS ON KOREA ohap. 

disabilities which rendered the sons of concabines in- 
eligible for high office. Brutal punishments and torture 
are done away with, a convenient coinage has replaced 
cash, an improved educational system has been launched, 
. di^ipM^ ^yand police ^ta been cre^U^ 
Chinese literary examinations are no longer the test of 
fitness for official emplojrment, a small measure of judicial 
reform has been granted, a raikoad from Chemulpo to the 
capital is being rapidly pushed to completion, the pressure 
of the Trades Guilds is relaxed, a postal system efficiently 
worked and commanding confidence has been introduced 
into all the Provinces, the finances of the country are 
being placed on a sound basis, the change from a land- 
tax paid in kind to one which is an assessment in money 
on the value of the land greatly diminishes the oppor- 
tunities for official *' squeezing," and large and judicious 
retrenchments have been carried out in most of the 
metropolitan and provincial departments. 

Nevertheless, the Government Gazette of the 12th of 
August 1897 contains the following Boyal Edicts : — 



We have been looking into the condition of the country. 
We have realised the imminent danger which threatens the 
maintenance of the nation. But the people of both high and 
low classes do not seem to mind the coming calamity and act 
indifferently. Under the circumstances the country cannot prosper. 
We are depending upon Our Ministers for their advice and help^ 
but they do not respond to our trust How are we going to bring 
the nation out of its chaotic condition ? We desire them to pause 
and to think that they cannot enjoy their homes unless the 
integrity of the nation is preserved. We confess that We have 
not performed our part properly, but Our Ministers and other 



XXXVII ROYAL EDICTS 286 

officials ought to have advised Us to refrain from wrong-doing as 
their ancestors had done to Our forefathers. We will endeavour 
to do what is right and proper for our country hereafter, and We 
trust Our subjects will renew their loyalty and patriotism in help- 
ing Us to carry out Our aim. Our hope is that every citizen in 
the land will consider the country's interest first before thinking of 
his private affairs. Let Us all join Our hearts to preserve the 
integrity of Our country. 

II 

The welfare of Our people is our constant thought. We 
realise that since last year's disturbance Our people have been 
suffering greatly on account of lack of peace and order. The dead 
suffers as much as the living, but the Government has not done 
anything to ameliorate the existing condition. This thought makes 
Us worry to such an extent that the affluence by which We are 
surrounded is rather uncomfortable. If this fact is known to Our 
provincial officials they will do their best to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of the people. Compulsory collection of unjust taxes and 
thousands of lawless officials and Government agents rob the help- 
less masses upon one pretence or another. Why do they treat Our 
people so cruelly? We hereby order the provincial officials to 
look into the various items of illegal taxes now being collected, and 
abolish them all without reservation. Whoever does not heed this 
edict will be punished according to the law.^ 

Though the Koreans of to-day are the product of 
centuries of disadvantages, yet after nearly a year spent 
in the country, during which I made its people my chief 
study, I am by no means hopeless of their future, in 
spite of the distinctly retrograde movements of 1897. 
Two things, however, are essential. 

L That, as Korea is incapable of reforming herself 
from within, she must be reformed from without. 

^ The good intentions of the Korean Sovereign, as well as the weakness 
which renders them ineffective, are typically illustrated in these two 
pathetic documents. 



286 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

II. That the power of the Sovereign must be placed 
under stringent and permanent constitutional checks. 

Hitherto I have written exclusively on Korean internal 
affairs, her actual condition, and the prospects of the social 
and commercial advancement of the people. I conclude 
with a few remarks on the political possibilities of the 
Korean future, and the relations of Korea with certain 
other powera 

The geographical position of Korea, with a frontier 
conterminous with those of China and Bussia, and divided 
from Japan hj only a narrow sea, has done much to 
determine her political relationships. The ascendency of 
China grew naturally out of territorial connection, and its 
duration for many centuries was at once the cause and 
effect of a community in philosophy, customs, and to a 
great extent in language and religion. But Chinese con- 
trol is at an end, and China can scarcely be regarded as a 
factor in the Korean situation. 

Japan having skilfully asserted her claim to an equality 
of rights in Korea, after several diplomatic triumphs and 
marked success in obtaining fiscal and commercial 
ascendency, eventually, by the overthrow of her rival in 
the late war, secured political ascendency likewise; and 
the long strife between the two empires, of which Korea 
had been the unhappy stage, came to an end. 

The nominal reason for the war, to which the Japanese 
Government has been careful to adhere, was the absolute 
necessity for the reform of the internal administration of 
a State too near the shores of Japan to be suffered to sink 
annually deeper into an abyss of misgovemment and 
ruin. It is needless to speculate upon the ultimate objecti 



H* 



LI 

:.'. 1 .ill '„• . A \iQ 






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'• ••• ' K .. . .. the 



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-•• *■• '-' . . eep 

' ••• '■"'■ .... her 

:••—- •" -• tire- 

- *" - were 
■-- ' - -= jO be 

— ' -'■ •- 3d by 
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" - - »perty. 
iir.jH,L .. overn- 

— ■-• : their 

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-r'^-- tesy of 

-^ ••• -- jiied by 
•^-■••••- -:. ely any 



288 LAST WOEDS ON KOREA chap. 

subsequent declaration of war with China, while they 
gave the world the shock of a surprise, were, as I 
endeavoured to point out briefly in chapter xiii, neither 
the result of a sudden impulse, nor of the shaldness of a 
Ministry which had to choose between its own downfall 
and a foreign war. The latter view could only occur to 
the most superficial student of Far Eastern history and 
politics. 

Japan for several centuries has r^arded herself as 
possessing vested rights to commercial ascendency in 
Korea. The harvest of the Korean seas has been reaped 
by her fishermen, and for 300 years her colonies have 
sustained a more or less prosperous existence at Fusan. 
Her resentment of the pretensions of China in Korea, 
though debarred for a considerable time from active exer- 
cise, first by the policy of seclusion pursued by the 
Tokugawa House, and next by the necessity of consolidating 
her own internal polity after the restoration, has never 
slumbered. * 

To deprive China of a suzerainty which, it must be 
admitted, was not exercised for the advantage of Korea ; to 
consolidate her own commercial supremacy ; to ensure for 
herself free access and special privileges ; to establish a 
virtual protectorate under which no foreign dictation 
would be tolerated ; to reform Korea on Japanese lines, and 
to substitute her own liberal and enlightened civilisation 
for the antique Oriental conservatism of the Peninsula, 
are aims which have been kept steadily in view for forty 
years, replacing in part the designs which had existed for 
several previous centuries. 

In order to judge correctly of the action or inaction of 



xxxvn SKILFUL DIPLOMACY 289 

Japan during 1896 and 1897, it must be borne iu mind 
not only that her diplomacy is secret and reticent, but 
that it is steady ; that it has not hitherto been affected by 
any great political cataclysms at home ; that it has less 
of opportunism than that of almost any other nation, 
and that the Japanese have as much tenacity and fixity 
of purpose as any other raca Also, Japanese policy in 
Korea is still shaped by the same remarkable statesmen, 
who firom the day that Japan emerged upon the interna- 
tional arena have been rec(^nised by the people as their 
natural leaders, and who have guided the country through 
the manifold complications which beset the path of her 
enlightened progress with a celerity and freedom from 
disaster which have compelled the admiration of the 
world. 

The assassination of the Korean Queen under the 
auspices of Viscount Miura, and the universal horror 
excited by the act, rendered it politic for Japan to keep 
out of sight till the storm which threatened to wreck her 
prestige in Korea had blown over. This temporary retire- 
ment was arranged with consummate skill There were 
no violent dislocations. The garrisons which were to be 
withdrawn quietly slipped away, and were replaced by 
guards only sufficient for the protection of the Japanese 
ligation, the Japanese telegraph, and other property. 
The greater number of the Japanese in Korean Grovem- 
ment employment fell naturally out of it as their 
contracts expired, and quietly retired from the country. 
Ministers of experience, proved ability, and courtesy of 
demeanour, have succeeded to the post once occupied by 
Mr. Otori and Viscount Miura. There has been scarcely any 
voL.n u 



290 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

recent interference with Korean affairs, and the Japanese 
colonists who were much given to buUjring and blustering 
are on greatly improved behaviour, the most objectionable 
among them having been recalled by orders from home. 
Diplomatically, Japan has carefully avoided friction with 
the Korean Government and the representatives of the 
other Powers. But to infer from this that she has 
abandoned her claims, or has swerved from her determina- 
tion to make her patronage essential to the well-being of 
Korea, would be a grave mistake. 

It has been said that whatever Japan lost in Korea 
Bussia gained. It is true that the King in his terror and 
apprehension threw himself upon the protection of the 
Bussian Minister, and remained for more than a year under 
the shelter of the Bussian flag, and that at his request a 
Russian Military Commission arrived to reorganise and 

•- drill the Korean army, that Bussia presented 3000 Berdan 

^ rifles to Korea, that a Bussian financier spent the autumn 
of 1896 in Seoul investigating the financial resources and 
prospects of the country, and that the King, warned by 
disastrous experiences of betrayal, prefers to trust his 
personal safety to his proximity to the Bussian military 
quarters. 
'^ ^ But " Bussian Ascendency," in the sense of '\CorUr6l " in 

which Japanese ascendency is to be understood, has never 
existed. The Bussian Minister used the undoubtedly in- 
fluential position which circumstances gave him with 
unexampled moderation, and only brought his influence to 

^ bear on the King in cases of grave misrule. The influence 
of Bussia, however, grew quietly and naturally, with little 

^ of external manifestation, up to March 1897, when the 



XXXVII RUSSIAN POLICY IN KOREA 291 

publication of a treaty, concluded ten months before be- 
tween Bussia and Japan/ caused something of a revulsion 
of feeling in favour of the latter country, and Bussia has 
been slowly losing ground. Her policy is too pacific to 
allow of a quarrel with Japan, and a quarrel would be the 
inevitable result of any present attempt at dictatorship 
in Korea. So fax, she has pursued a strictly opportunist 
course, taking no steps except those which have been forced 
upon her ; and even if the Korean pear were ready to drop 
into her mouth, I greatly doubt if she would shake the 
tree. 

At all events, Bussia let the opportunity of obtaining 
ascendency in Korea go by. It is very likely that she 
never desired it. It may be quite incompatible with 
other aims, at which we can only guess. At the same 
time, the influence of Japan is quietly and steadily increas- 
ing. Certainly the great object of the triple intervention 
in the treaty negotiations in Shimonoseki was to prevent 
Japan from gaining a foothold on the mainland of the 
Asiatic Continent ; but it does not seem altogether impos- 
sible that, by plajdng a waiting game and profiting by 
previous mistakes, she, without assuming a formal protect- 
orate, may be able to add, for all practical purposes of 
commerce and emigration, a mainland province to her 
Empire. Forecasts are dangerous things,^ but it is safe to 
say that if Bussia, not content with such quiet develop- 
ments as may be in prospect, were to manifest any 
aggressiye deHifftm <m Korea, Japan is powerful enough to 

^ See Apiftmdix K, 

' An " it b tb^i MiJMDTpdF^Ud which happens," it would not be siirpridng 
if certain m/trmf tmttmt^hly with the object of placing the independence of 
Korea on a Urm \miitt, wtrn tnmU tit any time. 



292 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

put a brake on the wheel ! Korea, however, is incapable 
of standing alone, and unless so difficult a matter as a joint 
protectorate could be arranged, she must be under the 
tutelage of either Japan or Bussia. 

If Bussia were to acquire an actual supremacy, the 
usual result would follow. Preferential duties and other 
imposts would gradually make an end of British trade in 
Korea with all its large potentialities. The effacement 
of British political influence has been effected chiefly by a 
policy of laissez-faire, which has produced on the Korean 
mind the double impression of indifference and feebleness, 
to which the dubious and hazy diplomatic relationship 
naturally contributes. If England has no contingent 
interest in the political future of a country rich in unde- 
veloped resources and valuable harbours, and whose pos- 
session by a hostile Power might be a serious peril to 
her interests in the Far East, her policy during the last 
few years has been a sure method of evidencing her 
unconcern. 

Though we may have abandoned any political interest 
in Korea, the future of British trade in the country re- 
mains an important question. Such influence as England 
possesses, being exercised through a non-official channel, 
and therefore necessarily indirect, is owing to the abilities, 
force, and diplomatic tact of Mr. M'Leavy Brown, the 
Chief Commissioner of Customs, formerly of H.B.M.'s 
Chinese Consular Service. So long as he is in control at 
the capital, and such upright and able men as Mr. Hunt, 
Mr. Oiesen, and Mr. Osborne are Commissioners at the 
Treaty Ports, so long will England be commercially 
important in Korean estimation. 



XXXVII THE CUSTOMS AND ENGLISH CONTROL . 293 

The Customs revenue, always increasing, and collected 
at a cost of 10 per cent only, is the backbone of Korean 
finance ; and everywhere the ability and integrity of the 
administration give the Commissioners an influence which 
is necessarily in favour of England, and which produces 
an impression even on corrupt Korean officiaUsm That 
this service should remain in our hands is of the utmost 
practical importance. In the days of Japanese ascendency 
there was a great desire to upset the present arrangement, 
but it was frustrated by the tact and firmness of the 
Chief Commissioner. The next danger is that it should 
pass into Eussian hands, which would be a severe blow to 
our prestige and interests. This danger is imminent, and 
it is very likely that Mr. de Speyer, the new Eussian 
Minister, may bring such pressure to bear on the Korean 
Government as may compel it to make an end of British 
control both in the Customs and Financial Departments. 

Some of the leading Eussian papers are agitating 
this question, and the Novoie Vremia of 9th September 
1897, in writing of the opening of the ports of Mok- 
po and Chi-nam-po to foreign trade, says: — "These 
encroachments are chiefly due to the cleverness of the 
British officials who are at the head of the Financial 
and Customs Departments of the Korean administration." 
It adds, " If Bussia tolerates any further increase in this 
policy . . . Great Britain will convert the country into 
one of her best markets." The Novoie Vremia goes on to 
urge " the Eussian Government to exercise, before it is too 
late, a more searching surveillance than at present, to take 
steps to reduce the number of British officials in the 
Korean Grovernment (the Customs) and to compel Japan 



294 LAST WORDS ON KOREA chap. 

to withdraw what are practicaUy the miUtary garrisons 
which she has established in Korea." 

Such, in brief outline, is the position of political affairs 
in Korea at the close of 1897. Her long and close poli- 
tical connection with China is severed ; she has received 
from Japan a gift of independence which she knows joot 
bpwL to use ; England, for reasons which may be guessed 
at, has withdrawn from any active participation in her 
affairs ; the other European Powers have no interests to 
safeguard in that quarter ; and her integrity and independ- 
ence are at the mercy of the most patient and the most 
ambitious of Empires, whose interests in the Fax East are 
conflicting, if not hostile. 

It is with great regret that I take leave of Korea, 
with Eussia and Japan facing each other across her 
destinies. The distaste I felt for the country at first 
passed into an interest which is almost affection^ and 
on no previous journey have I made dearer and kinder 
friends, or those from whom I parted more regretfully. 
I saw the last of Seoul in snow in the blue and violet 
atmosphere of one of the loveliest of her winter mornings, 
and the following day left Chemulpo in a north wind of 
merciless severity in the little Government steamer 
Hyenik for Shanghai, where the quaint Korean flag 
excited much interest and questioning as she steamed 
slowly up the river. 



xxxvn A ROYAL NOTIFICATION 295 



Postscript 

The following notification made by the Korean 

* Sovereign's order, which reached me as this sheet was 

passing through the press, is a striking commentary on 

the Boyal Edict on p. 285, and indicate^) the chaos to 

which the Eoyal will reduces Government in Korea. 

The Royal Household Department has made the following 
official communication to the Home Department : — ^' Since the new 
regulations came into force the income of the Royal Household has 
been materially reduced, causing much difficulty in carrying on the 
various work in the Department. Therefore the Department has 
established a Bureau to collect certain duties from the tradesmen of 
the country at the rate of 20 per cent from their gross receipts. 
The Bureau has sent out agents to the provinces with specific 
orders from His Majesty. But lately the Department has learned 
that the Home Department issued an order to the Governors to 
ignore the agents of the Royal Household Department. The 
Department considers the order very injurious to the interest of 
the Department, and hereby requests the Home Department to issue 
another to the effect that the Governors must give ample protection 
and assistance to them in collecting the revenue for the Royal 
Household Department The Department makes this request by 
order of His Majesty.'' 



APPENDICES 



300 



APPENDIX B 



APPENDIX B 

Direct Foreign Trade op Korea, 1886-96 

(i.e. net value of foreign goods imported in foreign, or foreign-type, 
vessels into the Treaty Ports, and taken cognisance of by the foreign 
Customs ; and of native goods similarly exported and re-exported 
from the Treaty Ports to foreign countries.) 



Tear. 


Net Imports of ForBign 

Goods vLe. exclusive of 

Foreign Goods re-exported 

to Foreign Countries). 


Exports and Re-exports i 
of Native Goods to 
Foreign Ck}antries. 


Total. 


1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 


$2,474,185 
2,815,441 
3,046,443 
3,377,815 
4,727,839 
6,256,468 
4,598,485 
3,880,155 
5,831,563 
8,088,213 
6,531,324 


$504,225 
804,996 
867,058 
1,233,841 
3,550,478 
3,366,344 
2,443,739 
1,698,116 
2,311,215 
2,481,808 
4,728,700 


$2,978,410 
3,620,437 
3,913,501 
4,611,656 
8,278,317 
8,622,812 
7,042,224 
5,578,271 
8,142,778 
10,570,021 
11,260,024 



Note, — The increase in the foreign trade of Korea between 1886 and 1896 
may not have been so great as the above figures without explanation 
would imply. It is generally stated that side by side with the trade in 
foreign vessels at the Treaty Ports a considerable traffic has been carried 
on by junk between non-Treaty ports in Korea and ports in China and 
Japan. This junk trade was probably much larger in the earlier years of 
the period the figures of which are compared, and the rapid development 
shown in the table may be partly due to the increasing transfer of traffic 
from native craft to foreign-type vessels which offer greater regularity and 
safety and less delay. 



1 i.e. including native goods imported fh>ni another Korean port and re-exported to 
a foreign country. 



APPENDIX B 



,». 


Lnport Duties. 


Biport DuliM. 


Tonn^Du.. 


Total. 


1884 


»79,37B71 


119,23474 


$3,478-19 


$102,086-64 


1885 


119,361-41 


19,602-22 


2,996-90 


141,963-63 






24.812-11 


2. 70S 75 








40,384-52 


3,045-12 


246,701-32 


1888 


219,759 81 


43,330-62 


4.124-55 


267,214-98 


isse 


213, 467 -49 


61,83S'23 


4.707-04 


279,999-76 


1890 


327, 460 '11 


178,552-14 


8, 687 -SO 


614.600-15 


1881 


372,022-07 


168,096-36 


8,940-26 


649,058-69 


1892 


308,954-13 


123,212-24 


6,247-06 


438.413-42 






86,720-22 


6,717-16 






357, 828 '34 


115,779-33 


7.398-64 


481.006-31 




601,588-06 


124,281-22 


15,448-20 


741,297-48 


1896 


448.137 -le 


226.342-45 


17,30476 


691,784-36 



CouPAaATiv& Statement of the Japanese and non-Jafakbbb Cotton 
Goods Imfoktbd into Korba DtiBiNO the Ybab 1896. 





f,,„,i. 


JapBDue. 




Total. 




HoRtlon 


















QuaDtity. 


Value. 


dmntity. 


Valmt, 


Qiiantltl 


VlluB. 






















6.71.1 


23,6e( 


428,911 








Shirtings— White 




31 


121 


5,445 


21,768 


6,476 


21 


88SJ 




















Urilla . 






63' 


11,588 


47.9iH 


11.746 






Turkey- Red Cloths 




1,852 


3,66i 


7,519 


17,341 


9,171 


21 










l!5,91' 
















762 


2,87( 












Cotton Blankets . 


Paira 


1,625 


3,88: 




























Thread 


Piculs 
Vuliie 


12.821 


388,064 


1,795 


71,386 


14,616 






621,628 


1,793.027 


2,314.566 


Cottou Goods. Un- 
















=ia«aod . . 


Value 




644,671 




'379,310 






Total . . 


l,!fi6,199 


2,172,346 


3,338,545 



APPENDIX C 



Bktubii of Principal Articles of Export (net) to Foreign CoontrieB for 
the Yean 1896-8S. 







O,^^^. 


r^. 


Wiin-Bin. 




im. 


1S9S. 


ISH. 


ISU. 


l^ 


ISBS. 


GimiBng . 

^per . . . 




8,789 

If 

12,713 


£«,87a 
U,0S8 

1,T8S 

83.390 


fli5,7al 

m.ssa 

8, 70S 
13,633 


S7,SS5 

i-'mS 
n,3fli 


i.SB4 

t.tu 

MS 


3,6W 


ToUi . . 




&m.u,i 


^133,407 


£383,100 


£Sa,i5S 


£35,fl44 


£42,112 



£S11,27S (3,4SI,G( 



APPENDIX C 



303 



Rbtubn of Principal Articles of Foreign Import (net : i.«. excluding 
Re-exports) to Open Ports of Korea during the Years 1896-96. 





Chemulpo. 


Fusan. 


Wdn-san. 


Articles. 
















1896. 


1895. 


1896. 


1895. 


1896. 


1896. 


Cotton goods — 














Shirtings . 


£108,196 


£172,549 


£61,920 


£64,911 


£21,982 


£56,190 


Lawns and muslins 


6,956 


11,554 


10,670 


8,188 


1,072 


2,066 


Sheetings — 














Japanese 


12,608 


7,199 


• • 


• • 


40 


1,880 


English and American 


6,786 


8,594 


• • 


• • 


28 


4,600 


Japanese piece-goods 


14,015 


20,129 


24,944 


19,482 


80,867 


88,608 


Yam- 














Japanese 


27,271 


26,098 


11,018 


8,866 


1,690 


8,488 


English and Indian 


5,684 


4,876 


222 


• • 


1,871 


4,864 


Other cottons . 


14,894 


29,065 


6,868 


4,886 


8,782 


16,126 


Total . 


£190,850 


£280,064 


£105,187 


£91,288 


£66,177 


£124,066 


Woollens. 


8,266 


4,983 


578 


884 


182 


888 


Metals .... 


7,172 


8,620 


15,268 


10,842 


7,690 


6,217 


Sundries- 














Dyes 


4,818 


10,794 


2,868 


8,084 


777 


1,607 


Oiass-cloths 


2,858 


18,641 


8,646 


1,402 


2,241 


8,164 


Matches 


4,798 


8,576 


4,671 


8,848 


2,018 


1,680 


Kerosene oil- 














American . 


20,085 


9,819 


9,660 


7,479 


6,468 


8,990 


Russian . 


9,812 


467 


4,618 


478 


69 


1 


Provisions . 


5,717 


8,859 


2,868 


2,024 


881 




Sak6 .... 


8,018 


9,689 


2,972 


2,818 


1,208 


1,176 


Silk piece goods . 


28,948 


66,067 


8,167 


6,606 


4,058 


12,848 


Other articles 


89,417 


111,902 


60,828 


88,869 


26,241 


80,884 


Total . 


£181,415 


£228,748 


£88,878 
£209,846 


£66,098 


£48,461 


£66,400 


Grand total . 


£882,208 


£522,860 


£167.662 


£117,600 


£186,616 


Less excess of re- 














exports over im- 














ports in some 














articles 


1,088 


696 


• • 


• ■ 


' » 


126 


Nettotal 


£381,115 


£621,764 


£209,846 


£107,662 


£117,600 


£186,490 



Total for Korm. 



1896. 



Currency. 



; t9,&89,680l 



SUniing. 



1806. 



Currency. 



£709,441 I |8,0M,4«!>1 



8t«riing, 



£«76;416 



1 ldolm2».2d. 



APPENDIX C 



1 


1 


1 


SSSSISSSS 
3 --J-sa 


IS 

si- 


a 


-=s2|-a| 


ll 


^ 


1 




Jill! 


II 




:" rS :SS 


|s 


1 


1 


: : ::B:;g 


II 


i! 


: : : :3 ; ;" 


$s 


1 


1 


1 




§1 

it 


^1 


:■ .-S := = 


86 


1 


1 


::::|,:S 


II 


5j 


: : . :S : - 


II 


1 


1 


1 


^1 .^IHI 


Si 


9 


:- :-S'-=*S 


2g 




i 


3:5 I::! 


II 


^1 


- :S :S : : = 


S: 


i 


JiJlill i' 



APPENDIX D 



305 



APPENDIX D 



The Foreign Population of the three Korean Treaty Ports was 

as follows in January 1897 : — 

Chemulpo Settlement. 

3904 

404 

15 

12 

7 



Japanese 

Chinese 

British 

German 

American 

French 

Norwegian 

Greek . 

Italian 

Portuguese 

Total 
Estimated native population . 



7 
3 
3 
1 
1 



4357 
. 6756 



Fusan Settlement. 

Japanese . 5508 

Chinese ....... 34 

British 10 

American ....... 7 

German ....... 2 

Danish ....... 1 

French ....... 1 

Italian ....... 1 



Total 



5564 



Estimated native population of Fusan City and 

the Prefecture of Tung-nai . . 33,000 

VOL. n .K 



306 



APPENDIX D 



Won 



Japanese 

Chinese 

American 

German 

British 

French 

Russian 

Danish 

Norwegian 



Total 



Estimated native population 



•san Settlement. 
1299 

39 
8 
3 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 



1,357 
15,000 



APPENDIX E 307 



APPENDIX E 

Treaty between Japan and Kussia, with Reply of H.E. the 
Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs 

TRANSLATION 

MemoTomdv/m 

The Representatives of Russia and Japan at Seoul, having conferred 
under the identical instructions from their respective Governments, 
have arrived at the following conclusions : — 

While leaving the matter of His Majesty's, the King of Korea, 
return to the Palace entirely to his own discretion and judgment, 
the Representatives of Russia and Japan will friendly advise His 
Majesty to return to that place, when no doubts could be entertained 
concerning his safety. 

The Japanese Representative, on his part, gives the assurance, 
that the most complete and effective measures will be taken for the 
control of Japanese soshi. 

The present Cabinet Ministers have been appointed by His 
Majesty by his own free will, and most of them have held ministerial 
or other high offices during the last two years and are known to be 
liberal and moderate men. 

The two Representatives will always aim at recommending His 
Majesty to appoint liberal and moderate men as Ministers, and to 
show clemency to his subjects. 

The Representative of Russia quite agrees with the Representa- 
tive of Japan that at the present state of affairs in Korea it may be 
necessary to have Japanese guards stationed at some places for the 
protection of the Japanese telegraj^h line between Fusan and Seoul, 
and that these guards, now consisting of three companies of soldiers, 
should be withdravm as soon as possible and replaced by gendarmes, 
who will be distributed as follows : fifty men at Fusan, fifty men 
at Ka-heung, and ten men each at ten intermediate posts between 
Fusan and Seoul. 



308 APPENDIX E 

This distribution may be liable to some changes, but the total 
number of the gendarme force shall never exceed two hundred men, 
who will afterwards gradually be withdrawn from such places, 
where peace and order have been restored by the Korean Govern- 
ment 

For the protection of the Japanese settlements at Seoul and the 
open ports against possible attacks by the Korean populace, two 
companies of Japanese troops may be stationed at Seoul, one com- 
pany at Fusan and one at Won-san, each company not to exceed 
two hundred men. These troops will be quartered near the settle- 
ments, and shall be withdravm as soon as no apprehension of such 
attacks could be entertained. 

For the protection of the Russian Legation and Consulates the 
Russian Government may also keep guards not exceeding the 
number of Japanese troops at those places, and which will be with- 
drawn as soon as tranquillity in the interior is completely restored. 

(Signed) C. Waeber, 

Representative ofRusda. 

J. KOMURA, 

B»pre9entaJtive of Japan, 
Seoul, I4tk May 1896. 

Proctocol 

The Secretary of State, Prince Lobanow-Rostovskey, Foreign 
Minister of Russia, and the Marshal Marquis Yamagata, Ambassador 
Extraordinary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, having 
exchanged their views on the situation of Korea, agreed upon the 
following articles : — 

I 

For the remedy of the financial difl&culties of Korea, the GJovem- 
ments of Russia and Japan will advise the Korean Government to 
retrench all superfluous expenditure, and to establish a balance 
between expenses and revenues. If, in consequence of reforms 
deemed indispensable, it may be necessary to have recourse to 
foreign loans, both Governments shall by mutual consent give 
their support to Korea. 



APPENDIX E 309 

II 

The Governments of Russia and Japan shall endeavour to leave 
to Korea, as far as the financial and economical situation of that 
country will permit, the formation and maintenance of a national 
armed force and police of such proportions as will be sufficient for 
the preservation of the internal peace, without foreign support 

III 

With a view to facilitate communications with Korea, the 
Japanese Government may continue (ccynJtirmerai) to administer the 
telegraph lines which are at present in its hands. 

It is reserved to Russia (the rights) of building a telegraph line 
between Seoul and her frontiers. 

These different lines can be repurchased by the Korean Govern- 
ment, so soon as it has the means to do so. 

IV 

In case the above matters should require a more exact or 

detailed explanation, or if subsequently some other points should 

present themselves upon which it may be necessary to confer, the 

Representatives of both €k)vemments shall be authorised to negotiate 

in a spirit of friendship. 

(Signed) Lobanow. 
Yamagata. 
Moscow, Qih June 1896. 

The following is the exact translation of the reply sent to the 
Japanese Minister by the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, con- 
cerning the Russo-Japanese Convention : — 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
Mar» 9^) 2n(2 yea/r of Kun-ywn/g (1897). 

Sir — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 
despatch of the 2nd instant^ informing me that^ on the 14th day of 
May last, a memorandum was signed at Seoul by H.E. Mr. Komura, 
the former Japanese Minister Resident, and the Russian Minister, 
and that, on the 4th of June of the same year, an Agreement was 
signed at Moscow, by H.E. Marshal Yamagata, the Japanese 



310 APPENDIX E 

Ambassador, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia ; and 
that these two documents have been laid publicly before the 
Imperial Diet You further inform me that on the 26th ultimo 
you received a telegram from your Qovemment, pointing out that 
the above-mentioned Agreement and Memorandum in no way 
reflect upon, but, on the contrary, are meant to strengthen, the 
independence of Korea, — this being the object which the Govern- 
ments of Japan and Russia had in view, — and you cherish the 
confident hope that my Government will not fail to appreciate this 
intention. In accordance with telegraphic instructions received 
from the Imperial Minister of Foreign Aflfairs you enclose copies of 
the Agreements referred to. 

I beg to express my sincere thanks for your despatch and the 
information it conveys. I would observe, however, that as my 
Government has not joined in concluding these two Agreements, 
its freedom of action as an independent Power cannot be restricted 
by their provisions. — I have, etc, 

(Signed) Ye Wanyong, 

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 

H.K Mr. Kato, 
Minister of Japan, etc. 



INDEX 



Abbot, a refined, i 93 
Agricultaral implements, i. 187 

methods, i. 185-189 
Agriculture, the Ministry of, ii. 202 
Ah Wong, i. 27 
Allen, Mr. Clement, i. 216 

Dr., ii. 165, 166, 167, 275 
Altar-piece, an unique, i. 170, 171 
American missions, i. 14, 66, 199 ; 

iL 73, 113, 157-162, 209 
Am-nok river, the, i. 4, 5, 8, 80 
Amur Province, the, ii. 16, 25 
river, the, i. 257, 258, 259 ; ii. 15, 

24, 26, 27 
An-byong, i. 189 
Ancestral temple, an, i. 97 

worship, i. 62, 66, 97 ; ii. .224 
An-chin-Miriok, ii. 156 
Ang-paks, L 84, 141, 182 
Animals, i. 78 
An Ju, ii. 134 

An-kil Yung Pass, ii. 139-142 
An-mun-chai, the, i. 158, 162, 165, 

167, 168 
Appenzeller, Rev. H. G., ii. 209 
A-ra-riing style of music, i. 192-194 
Archipelago, a remarkable, i. 6 
Army, the, i. 56, 57, 246, 247 ; ii. 

263-265 
Asan, battle of, i. 243 

Chinese landing at, i. 242 
Assembly, a national, ii. 190 
Associations, ii. 272 
Atai-jo, king, i. 195 
Australian ladies, mission work by, 

i. 22-24 

Baikal horses, ii. 19 



Banners and bannermen, i. 221, 222 

Barter, i. 85 

Bas-reliefs, i. 93 

Beacon fires, i. 108, 118 

"BeHeving Mind, Temple of the," i 

159 
Bell, a fine, u. 94 

of Seoul, the great, i. 37, 39, 49 
Birukoff, Mr., ii. 209 
Boat, a small, i. 72, 73 
Bride, a, i. 131 
Bridges, ii. 91 
British political influence, iL 292 

trade, ii. 292 
Broughton Bay, i. 5, 201 
Brown, Mr. M*Leavy, i. 32 ; ii. 186, 

219, 266, 281, 292 
Buddha, statues of, i. 156, 166 
Buddhism, L 62, 94, 161, 163, 168, 
171, 195 ; ii. 222 

relics of Korean, iL 82 
Buddhist hells, representations of, i. 
159 

establishments, L 66, 87, 92, 129, 
154 ; iL 123 

nunneries, i. 129, 154 

temple, a, L 92 
Buddhistic legends, i. 166 
Bulls, L 31, 123, 187, 188 
Burial customs, L 239 ; ii. 82-89 

places, i. 31, 62, 63 
Burrough's and Welcome's tabloids, 

L91 
Butchers, methods of, L 199 

Cabinet, the, ii. 188, 191, 198 

Miiiisters, execution of^ ii. 188 
Campbell Mr., L 152, 155, 158 ; IL 132 



312 



INDEX 



Carles, Consul, i 140 ; ii. 185, 169 
Cave, a remarkable, i 110 
Cham-su-ki, i. 106 

tree, i. 107 
Chang-an Sa, L 162, 164, 166, 172, 
173, 186 

temple, i 164-168, 168 

torrent, i. 169 
Chang Sun, L 31 
Charcoal, export of, L 84 
Charms, iL 233 
Cha-san, IL 127, 156 
Che-ch5n, i. 119 
Chefoo, L 203, 214, 216, 260 
Chemulpo, i 72, 80, 210, 213, 214 ; 
IL 29, 67, 60, 96, 101, 157, 169, 
171, 248, 255, 284, 294 

banks at, i. 27 ; ii. 267 

cemetery at, iL 122 

Chinese settlement in, i. 26 ; ii. 30 

harbour, i. 6, 11, 12, 25, 30 

Japanese settlement in, i 26, 27, 
210 ; ii 30 

Korean quarter, i 28, 29 

occupation of^ by Japanese, i. 242, 
ii. 30 

population of, ii 306 

trade in, i. 27, 28 

war rumours at, i 206, 207 
Cheng-tu, i 119 
Che-on-i, i 72, 73, 169 
Children, sale of, to dsemons, ii 238 
Chi-li, i 219 

ChU-sung Mon, the, ii 118, 119 
China, ascendency of, ii. 284, 286, 

288 
Chinese civilisation, introduction of, i 2 

in Korea, i 210, 211, 212 ; ii 284, 
286, 288 

Manchuria, ii. 19, 28 

suzerainty, renunciation of, ii. 31, 
288, 293 
Chin-h'yo, the monk, i 166 
Chin>nam-po, i 11 ; ii 171, 293 
Chino-Japanese War, origin of the, i 

242 
Chin-pul, i 184 
Choi Sok demon, u. 247 
Chol-muri Kaut, the, ii. 236 
Ch61-yong-To, i 16 
Chong-dong, ii 266, 268, 269 
Ch6ng-phy5ng, i 100, 103, 104 

temple at i 103, 104 



Chong-sdp, i 162 

Chon-Shin daBmons, ii. 246 

Chon-yaing, i 97 

Chosen AfagazinCt The^ ii 271 

Cho Wang daemon, ii. 247 

Christian missions: see Missionary 

Work 
religion, Korean estimate of^ ii 

269, 270 
Christianity, progress of^ i. 236, 237 
Christians, native, i 68 ; ii. 6 
Christie, Dr., i 232, 236-238, 249 
Chul-la, i 19 
Chul-la Do, ii 107 
Chun-chhon, i 123 
Chung-Chong-Do, i 81, 93 
Chung Ju, i 100 
Chun-yol, i 121 

Chyang-yang Sa monastery, i 168 
Chyung-tai, i 175, 177 
Chyu-pha Pass, the, i 146 
Class privileges, i 113, 114 ; u. 278, 

283 
Climate, i 7 
Coinage, i 11 
Concubinage, ii 162 
Confucian college, the, ii 201 
temples, i 82, 91, 105, 116 
Confucianism, i 13, 14 
Coigugal fidelity, i 131 ; ii. 161, 163 
Conspiracies, frequency o^ ii 279 
Constitutional changes, i 188-206 
Conventions with China, renimciation 

of the, i 243 
Corfe, Bishop, i 32, 47, 69, 71 ; his 

mission, i 25, 29, 66, 67, 71 
Correctional tribunal, the, ii 189, 

191 
Corruption, ii 261, 262, 281, 282 
Council of State, formation of a, ii 

186, 193-197 
Court functionaries, ii. 267, 258 
Crown Prince, the, ii 41, 66, 177, 

180, 256, 257, 259 
Princess, the, ii. 65 
Cultivation, i 112 
Curzon, the Hon. G. W., i 168 
Customs, i 59-68, 86, 113, 128-136, 

145 ; ii. 83, 168, 174, 293 

DiEMON festivals, ii 235-237 

worship, i 83, 87, 107, 147, 163 ; 
ii 140, 144, 162, 222-254 



INDEX 



113 



Dnnoos, classification ol, ii 249, 250 

femr of, L 1-15 

propidations of^ iL 235 
Death, easterns ccMuiected with, L 65 
DaUet, Pere, iL 16S 
Diamond Mountain, L 6, 80, 81, 9S, 
116, 119, 146, 15a, 161 ; monas- 
teries of the, i 152-172 
Diplomats, harassed, iL 70 
Divination, iL 232 
Dogs, L 45, 78 
Dog meat, nse o^ L 178 
Dolmens, L 149 
Domestic animals, L 186 

life, iL 168 

slaves, L 45 
Domiciliary visit, a, iL 103 
Dragon daemons, iL 244 
Dnmkenness, i. 101 
Don-gan river, the, L 201 
Dwellings, L 83 
Dye, General, iL 63, 64, 71, 73 

Eastkbn Siberia, maritime provinces 

of, iL 25, 27, 28 
Edgar, H.M.S., iL 101 
Edicts, iL 205 
Education, L 164, 238 ; IL 207-212, 

269 
the Biinistry of, iL 201, 212 
" Eight Views," the, L 180 
Elm trees, fine, L 104 
English mission, the first, L 66 

-speaking Koreans, i. 47 
Eternal Best, Temple of, i. 154, 155 
Eui-chyeng Pu, the, ii. 188, 189, 195, 

196 
Europeans, Korean estimate of, ii. 269 
Exorcism, L 128 ; iL 163, 229-231, 

251, 252, 253, 254 
Exports and imports, ii. 800, 301 

Falconry, L 79, 80 

Fanners, ii. 280, 283 

Fauna and flora, L 7, 8, 9 

Fengtien Cavalry Brigade, the, L 247 

Ferguson and Co., Messrs., i. 216 

Fermented liquors, 1. 101, 102 

Perries, L 117 

Ferry boat, an ingenious, L 149 

Festivals, ii. 235, 245, 247 

Fetishes, iL 242, 247, 248 

Fever, attack of, i. 225 



Finance. iL 31S-221 

Fire Dragon Pool, the, L 167 

Fishermen, L 182, 18;) 

*' Five Hundred Disciples^" t«m|Ue of 
the, L 197 

Forced labour, ii. 145 

Foreign liquors, love of, L 101 
Office, the, iL 200 

Foreigners, Korean estimate ot i^ 
269 

Formosa, transfer of, ii. 60 

Fortress, an ancient, L 117 

^* Four Sages." Hall of the, L 156 

Fox, Mr., L 32, 35 

French clocks, taste for, i. 99, 101 

Frescoes, curious, L 61 ; iL 123 

**Frog-boxes,"iL232 

Fu rapids, the, L 119 

Funerals, i. 64 ; U. 82, 88 

Fusan, L 5, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 205 
206 ; iL 29, 288 
foreign settlement of, L 17 
foreign trade of, L 17, 18 
Japanese influence in, L 19 
mission work in, L 22-24 
new Japanese cemetery in, L 17 
population of, L 19 ; ii. 305 

Galb, Mr., L 193, 200 

Mrs., L 200 
Game, i. 202 
Gap Pass, the, L 32, 210 
Gardner, Mr., L 30, 212 

Mrs. and Miss, L 32 
Gautama, a shrine of, L 157 
Geological formation, i. 6 
Gesangs, IL 164*166 
Ginseng, virtues and cultivation of, 

iL 95-98, 243 
Girls, seclusion of, L 135 
God of War, temple to the, ii. 121, 

128 
Godobin, Fort, i. 251 
Gold-digging, L 121, 122; iL 127 

143 
Gold omamentH, i. 121 
"Golden Sand, the river of," i. 88 
Gorge, a grand, i. 106 
Government, departments of, ii. 200* 

206 
reorganisation of the, ii. 18.0, 188- 

206 
*' Government Hospital," the, i. 66 



314 



INDEX 



Goverw¥umt Oazette^ the, ii. 191, 

192 
* Great Fifteenth Day," the, ii. 66, 

67 
Greathouse, General, i. 82 
Greathoose, Mr., ii. 273 

Ha-Chin, L 108 

Ha Ch'i style of music, i. 192 

Ha-in class, the, ii. 281 

"Half-way Place," the, i. 101 

Ham-gyong Do, i. 267 ; ii. 1, 14 

Ham-gyong Province, i. 181, 189 

Hamlet, a destitute, ii 138 

Hanka Lake, IL 26, 27 

Han Kang, i. 72, 76, 81, 82, 92 

Han river, i. 6, 8, 30, 32, 36, 71, 76, 

80, 82, 84, 92, 93, 94, 100, 101, 

103, 104, 10^, 111, 116, 119, 

120, 122, 123, 124, 127, 149, 

178 ; ii. 62, 91, 243 
descent of the, L 118 
fauna and flora of, 1. 77, 78, 79, 

109 
rapids of; i. 81, 90, 102, 103, 

109, 113, 114, 118, 124, 126 
scenery around the, i. 76 
Han valley, inhabitants of the, i. 82, 

86-88 
cultivation of the, i. 112 
limestone clififs of the, i. 117 
schools in the, i. 87 
temperature of the, i 89 
Hariong, the s.s., ii. 167, 168, 170 
Hart, Sir Robert, i. 250 
Hats, monstrous, ii. 166 
Heidemann, Mr., ii. 1, 8, 11 
Hemp, cultivation of, i. 105, 106 
Hermit City, the, i. 33 
Higo MarUf the s.s., i. 16, 26, 206, 

214, 216 
HilUer, Mr., i. 212 ; ii. 30, 37, 48, 60, 

76.78 
*' HUl Towns," the, ii. 109 
Hills, denudation of, i. 8 
Hiroshima, trial of assassins at, ii. 

71 
Hoa-chung, i. 175, 176 
Hoang-chyoug San. i. 176 
Home OfSce, the, ii. 200 
Hong-Kong, i. 203 
Hong, Colonel, ii. 63, 64, 67 
Hon-jd, ii. 92 



Ho-pai, or divining table, the, ii 

233 
Household spirits, iL 246 
Hulbert, Rev. H. B., i. 190, 191, 192, 

194 ; iL 211 
Hu-nan Chang, L 106 
Hun-chun, ii 8, 11, 19 
Chinese at, ii 19, 20 
Hun-ho river, the, i 233 
Hunt, Mr., ii 292 
Huok Euri, ii 129 
Hwang-hai Do, i 6 
Hwang-hai Province, ii 103 
Hyon, Colonel, ii. 63 

ICHANG, i 119 

Im, accident to my servant, ii. 138, 

139 
Im-jin, ii 91 
Im-jin Gang, the, ii 91 
Immorality, ii 161 
Incantations, ii. 264 
Independence Arch, the, ii 270 # 
Independence, proclamation of, ii. 

31 
IndependeTit newspaper, the, ii. 271 
Inns, i 140-146 
Inouye, Count, ii 31, 32, 60, 61, 69, 

60, 61, 67, 71, 74, 76 
Inscription, an amusing, 1. 113 
Interrupted Shadow, Island of the, i 

16 
I-tai, the innkeeper, i. 26, 27 ; ii 

30 

Jaisohn, Dr., i 147 ; ii 209, 271 
Japan, last glimpse of, i. 16 

policy of, i 210, 211 ; ii. 61, 144 

146 
sea of, i 4, 6, 25, 80, 116, 167, 
172 
Japanese, hatred of the, ii. 166 
influence, i 19, 27 ; ii. 173, 260, 

261, 282, 283, 286-294 
prestige, a blow to, ii. 71 
Jones, Mr. Heber, ii. 161, 224 notCt 

241, 244 Twte 
Justice, the Ministry of, ii. 202 
''Judgment, Temple of," i 169 
Junks, i 202 

Ka-chano, ii 127, 128 
Kai-chhon ii. 169 



INDEX 



31ft 



Kai-Song. h. 92 
Kal-ron-gi, L 173 
Kimg, the, L 230, 240 
Kang-ge Moontams, ii. 96 
Kang-won Do, the, i 5 
Kang-won Provinoe, i 181 
Kanjo Shimbo newspaper, the, ii 272 
Ka-phyong, i 122, 126 
Keom-kaDg San Mountains, L 119, 
146, 152, 153, 158, 161, 162, 
163, 168, 172, 173 

monasteries, i 154, 162 
Eeom-San goldfields, L 122 ; iL 127, 

169 
Eeum-San Grang river, i. 147 
EhabarofFka, IL 26, 27 

Korean settlers near, IL 4, 15 
Ehordadbeh's Book of Roads, 1. 2 
Ki-cho, the, i. 168, 162, 172 
Ki-jun, ii. 169 
Kim, the boatman, i. 74, 90, 94, 103, 

113, 114, 116, 120 
Kimchi, i 98, 177, 179 
Kim Ok-yun, tiie mnrderer of, ii. 

261 
King, the, ii. 39, 40, 44-49, 69, 
65, 68, 69, 72, 73, 76, 77, 177 

an audience with, ii. 256-259 

his flight to the Bussian Legation, 
ii. 180-185, 259-262 

power of the, ii. 188, 192, 196 
King's Oath, the, ii. 31-37 
Kings, Palace of the, ii. 94, 96 
Kit-ze, or Ki-ja, i. 2 ; iL 169 

Tomb of, ii. 122 
Kobe, i. 203 
Kol-lip daemon, ii. 248 
Ko-mop-so river, the, ii. 128 
Ko-moun Tari, ii. Ill 
Komura, Mr., ii. 7l| 76 
Kong- won, i. 120 
Kong-won Do, i 80, 180 
Korea, class privileges in, i. 113, 
114 ; ii. 278, 283 

climate of, 1. 7 

coinage of, i 11 

dissatisfaction in, ii. 75 

farmers in, ii. 280, 283 

fauna and flora of, i. 7, 8, 9 

first impressions of, L 16 

first notice of, i. 2 

foreigners in, i. 12 

geography of, i. 4 



Korea, geological formation of, i« 6 
GoTeniment o^ i. 9, 10 
harbours of« i. 5 
Japanese influence in, i ld« 27 ; il 

173, 260, 261, 282, 283, 286 
lakes of , L 5 
language of, u 12 
law, administration of, in, ii. 273 
manufactures and minerals of, i. d 
markets in, L 22 
missionary methods in, i. 22, 23, 

24, 67. 68 
money o^ L 69, 70, 86 
mountains of, i. 6 
proposals for administration of, i. 

242, 243 
provincial Government of, ii. 189, 

196, 197 
recent history of, i. 11 
religion of, i. 13, 14, 66, 67 ; ii. 

221 
resources of, ii. 278, 279 
roads in, i. 12, 146 
security in, ii. 94 
trade in, i. 17, 18, 27, 28 ; ii. 104- 

108, 212-218, 272 
winter in, i. 82 
Korean animals, i. 78 
bulls, i. 81, 123, 187, 188 
ouRtoms, i. 59-68, 85, 113, 128- 

186, 145 ; ii. 88, 168, 174 
dogs, i. 45, 78 

dwellings, i. 88 

education, i. 164, 288 ; ii. 207- 

212 
finance, ii. 218-221 
graves, i. 31, 62, 63 
independence, proclamation of, ii. 

31 
inns, i. 140-145 
moimtains, view of, ii. 13 
nobles and officials, i. 44 
pigs, i. 78, 188 ; ii. 127 
ponies, L 27, 81, 58, 137-130, 

187, 188 
roads, i. 12, 146 
settlers, ii. 1-20 
sheep, L 78, 188 
soldiers, i. 56, 57, 246, 247 
streets, L 21 

travellers, i. 145 

villages, i. 84, 188 ; ii. 4, 6, 9, 16 

voracity, i. 177 



316 



INDEX 



Korean women, i. 43 ; ii. 148-154 
Korean Christian Advocate and 

Christian News, the, ii. 271 
Korean Repository , the, L 194 ; ii. 

158, 165, 272 
Koreans, character and physiognomy 

of, i. 2, 3, 4, 20 ; iL 187, 144, 145 
Koioshing, the transport, i. 243 
Ko-yang, iL 81, 82 
Krasnoye Celo, ii. 11, 14, 16 
Ku-kyong, indulgence in, i 161, 168 
Ku-mu-nio, i. 124 
Kun-ren-tai troops, ii. 62, 63, 64, 

67, 68, 72, 74, 75, 76, 115, 177, 

205 
Kuntz and Albers, Messrs., i. 254, 

258 ; ii. 3, 21, 24 
Kur-dong ceremonial, the, i. 48-58, 

79, 136 
K'wan, ii. 14 
Kwan-ja, the use of a, i. 95, 96, 97, 

145, 168, 184 ; iL 78 
Kwan-yin, L 165 

image of; i. 157 
Kwass, ii. 12 

Kyei, or associations, ii. 272 
Kyeng-pok Palace, iL 37, 44, 180, 

185, 263, 268 
Kyeng-wun Palace, the, iL 185, 220, 

266, 257 
Kyong-heung, iL 7 
Kyong-hwi Province, iL 108 
Kyong-kwi Do, i. 81 
Kyong-sang Province, L 19, 24 
Kyong-won-Do, L 81 

Lakes, i. 5 

Landis, Dr., iL 224 note, 241, 248 

Language, L 12 

Laundresses, L 42, 43, 45 ; IL 149 

Lava-fields, i. 7, 149 

Law, administration of^ ii. 273 

Liau river, the, L 216, 225, 226, 

233 
Li Hsi, the king, 1. 54 
Li Hung Chang, ii. 58 
Lindholm, ii. 24 
Lion Stone, the, L 167 
Litany, a Greek, iL 12 
Literary swells, L 116 ; ii. 148 
Literature, the Temple of, iL 201 
Lone-tree Hill, the, i. 43 
Long-shin daemons, iL 244 



Lotus dance, the, ii. 165 
Lucifer matches, i. 195 

Macdonald, Sir Claude, iL 259 
Ma-ch^ Tong lake, L 180, 181, 182 
Ma-chai, L 94, 119, 120, 125 
Magistrate, an interview with a, L 

96 
Ma-ha-ly-an Sa monastery, i. 165 
Mak-pai Pass, the, L 173 
Ma-kyo, L 119 
Mama, or the smallpox daemon, iL 

239, 240 
Manchu head-dress, i. 234 

soldiers, L 245, 246, 247 
Manchuria, L 216, 217, 285, 245 

brigands in, L 219, 220 

Chinese immigrants to, L 219 

floods in, L 226-229 

Qovemment of, 1. 236 

immigrations from, 1. 2 

population of^ L 218 

trade of, i. 220 

vlceroyalty of, L 218, 219, 222 
Manchus, the, L 221 
Mandarins and their retainers, ii. 

135 
Mangan, the, L 129 
Mang-kun, the, ii. 174, 175 
Man-pok-Tong, the, L 167 
Manufactures and minerals, L 9 
Ma-pu, L 30, 31, 32, 36, 72, 210 
Mapus or grooms, L 137-141, 189 ; 
iL 79, 81, 91, 102 

fear of tigers, L 150 ; iL 90, 111, 
130 

superstition of, L 147 
Marble pagoda of Seoul, the, L 89, 

40 
Ma-ri Kei, L 150, 151 
Markets, L 22 
Marriage customs, L 128-186 ; iL 

158 
Matunin, Mr., ii. 7 
Meals, L 86, 91 
Medical missions, iL 253 
Medicine, system of, i. 239 
Merchant pedlars, i. 81 
Mesozoic and metamorphic rocks, 

L6 
MUler, Mr., L 69, 78, 74, 88, 90, 
91, 96, 108, 116, 118, 168, 168, 
174, 184 



INDEX 



317 



Millet, the use of, ii. 125 
Min clan, the, ii. 50 
Ming tombs, the, i. 236 
Ministers, execution of, ii. 183 

of State, duties of, u. 198, 199 
" Ministres de Parade," i. 236 
Min Yeng-chyun, ii. 189 
Miriang, i. 19 

Mlrioks, i. 83, 125 ; ii. 82, 83 
Miriok Yang Pass, ii. 126 
Mission hospital, a fine, L 238 

service, a, ii 162 
Missionary work, i. 14, 22-24, 66-68, 
199, 236-238, 244 ; ii 6, 113, 
157-162 

statistics of, iL 298, 299 
Minra, General Viscount, ii. 61, 62, 

68, 71, 287, 289 
Moflfett, Mr., L 82 ; ii. 114, 115, 

119, 121, 124, 159, 160 
Mok-po river, i. 5, 11 
Mok-po, ii. 293 
Monasteries, i. 152-172 
Money, i. 69, 70, 85 
Monks, i. 153-172 

ignorance of the, L 164 
Monuments, ii. 92 

Mou-chin Tai, ii. 133, 134, 144, 147 
Mounds, grass-covered, i. 203 
Mountains, i 6 
Mourning costume, i. 65 
Muk-den, i. 219, 220, 224, 230, 233 ; 
ii. 119 

anti-foreign feeling in, i. 245, 249 

cabs of, i. 234 

Christianity in, i. 236, 244 

mission hospital, i. 238 

pawnshops, i. 240 

suicides in, i. 241 

system of medicine, 1. 239 

trade of, i. 235, 248 
Mulberry gardens of Seoul, L 39 

Palace of Seoul, i. 43 ; ii. 32, 242 
Murata rifle, the, i. 246 
Music, i 190-194 

Mu-tang, or sorceress, the, i. 128, 
147, 190 ; ii. 84, 87, 113, 144, 
163, 223, 234-254, 276 

beUef in, ii. 250-254 
Myo-kil Sang, the, i. 166 

Nagasaki, i. 16, 203, 250, 251 ; 
ii. 60 



<( 



Nai Eak, the, ii. 195 

Naktong, i. 67 

Naktong river, the, i. 5, 19 

Nam Chhon valley and river, iL 109, 

110 
Nam Han fortress, i. 91, 92, 210 
Nam San, i. 189, 195 

fortress, i. 118 
Nam-San mountains, i. 34, 41, 43, 

72 108 
Nang-chon, i. 119, 124, 127 
Nanivxiy the cruiser, i. 243 
Newchwang, i. 203, 216, 217, 220, 
222, 223, 224, 249 ; ii. 169 

mud at, i. 222, 225 
Newspaper Press, the, ii. 271 
Nicolaeflfk, i. 258 
Nikolskoye, ii. 21, 22, 24, 25 

Korean settlements near, iL 15 

Ninety-nine Turns," pass of the, L 

176 

Nobility, the, i. 44 
Nowo Eiewsk, iL 3, 16, 20 
Nuns, i. 162 

0-BANO-OHANG-KUN dsemous, iL 241 

O'Conor, Lady, L 216 

Officialism, L 44 ; iL 189 

Official corruption, iL 261, 262 

0-hung-suk Ju, ii. 100 

Oiesen, Mr., i. 183 ; iL 292 

Oil paper, use of, ii. 128 

Okamoto, Mr., ii. 62, 71 

Op Ju daemon, ii. 247 

Oracles, u. 237 

Orange-peel, use of, i. 102 

Oricol, ii. 30 

Osaka, iL 58 

Osborne, Mr., iL 292 

Oshima, General, iL 122 

Otori, Mr.. L 41, 212, 213; iL 61, 

190, 191, 289 
Ou-Chin-gang, ii. 155 
Outfit, L 70, 71 

Pagoda, a ruinous, L 100 
Pai Chai College, the, ii. 209 
Paik-kui Mi, i. 114, 127, 128 
Paik-tu San Mountain, i. 5, 6 ; ii. 

141 
Paik-yang Gang river, L 148, 149 
Pai-low, the, iL 270 
Pa Ju, iL 80, 90 



320 



INDEX 



Spanish chestnuts, groves of, i. 122 
Spasskoje, ii. 25 
Spinsterhood, i. 129 
Spirit shrine, a, i. 147, 152 
Spirit-worship, i. 14, 66, 106, 107 
"Star Board," the, ii. 84 
Straw fringes, use of, ii. 99 
Streets, L 21 ; ii. 265-267 
Stripling, Mr. A. B.. ii. 278 
Su-chung Dai, i. 180 
Suglmura, Mr., ii. 68, 71 
Suicide, prevalence of, i. 241 
Sun-chh6n, ii. 147, 148 
Sungacha river, ii. 27 
Suruga Maru, the 8.s., ii. 60 
SuxUlow King'sRewardSy The^ ii. 167 
Swings, i. 190 
Sword and Dragon Dance, the, ii. 

166 
Syo-im, i. 184 

Tablets, stone, i. 115 

Tai-d5ng river, i. 5, 8, 122 ; ii. 109, 

111, 112, 116, 117, 127-130, 

183, 137, 144, 147, 156, 169 
Taiping rebellion, i. 219 
Tai-won-Kun, the, i. 83, 243 ; ii. 43, 

44, 51, 61, 62, 67, 68, 177, 268 
Taku forts, the, i. 216 
Tanning industry, the, ii. 272 
Tan-pa-Ryong Pass, the, L 150, 152, 

158 
Tan-yang, i. 81, 100, 105, 108, 109, 

110, 111, 119 
Tao-jol, the, ii. 108 
Ta-rai, L 125 
Tarantass, the, ii. 4, 5, 7 
Ta-ri-mak, i. 189, 194, 195 
Taxes, ii. 204 

Tchyu-Chichang Pass, i. 176 
Temperature, high, i. 182, 184, 185, 

199, 223, 225 
low, i. 240 ; ii. 30, 101 
Temple, interior of a, i. 97 
Temple of the God of War, 1. 61 
Temples, i. 93, 152-172, 197 ; ii. 94, 

108 
"Ten Judges," the, ii. 85 

Temple of the, i. 156 
Thong-chhdn, i. 179 
"Throwing the ball," ii. 166 
Tientsin, i. 203 
treaty of, i. 242 



Tiger-hunters, i. 79, 145, 174 
Tigers, i. 121, 145, 173 ; ii. 141, 243, 

244 
Ti Ju daemon, ii. 246, 247 
Tok-Chhon, ii. 128, 130-136, 141, 156 
Tok-gabi daemons, ii. 242, 243 
Tol Mara, ii. 102 
Tomak-na-<lali, i. 93 
Tombs, i. 83 
Tong-bak rebels, the, i. 24, 87, 205, 

206, 208, 209, 210, 242; ii. 

53, 54, 55, 186 
Tong-ku, i. 150 
"Top-knot," the, ii. 173-184 

riots, ii. 179 
Tornado, a, i. 148 
To-tam, i. 110, 111, 113 
To-ti-chi Shin daemons, ii. 245 
Toys, i. 194 
Trade, i. 17, 18, 27, 28 ; ii. 104-108, 

212-218, 284 
statistics, ii. 300-304 
Trans-Siberian Railway, the, i. 201 ; 

ii. 21 
Travellers, i. 145 
Treasury, the, ii. 200 
Treaty between Japan and Russia, ii. 

807 
Treaty Ports, the, i. 12, 28 ; ii. 171, 

292, 298 
populations of, ii. 305, 306 
powers, the, i. 243 
Tso, General, i 238, 247, 248 ; ii. 

117, 118, 119, 124 
Tsushima, island of, i. 16 
Tu-men river, i. 4, 8 ; ii. 1, 7, 10, 

12, 14, 26 
"Twelve Thousand Peaks," the, i. 

158 
Tyzen Ho river, ii. 14 

Underwood, Mrs., ii. 37, 39, 42, 73 
Un-san, ii. 127 
Unterberger, General, i. 255 
Ur-rop-so, i. 121 
Ussuri, ii. 21, 22 

bridge, u. 21, 23 

railway, the, ii. 21, 22, 24 

river, the, il 21, 26, 27 
Ut-Kiri, i. 120, 124 

Vermin, protection against, ii. 90 
Village system, the, ii. 203 



INDEX 



321 



ViUages, i. 84, 188 ; ii. 4, 5, 9, 16 
Vocal music, i. 191 
Volcanic action, signs of, i. 6, 7 
"Volunteer Fleet," the Russian, i. 
267 ; ii. 22 

Waebbb, Mr., i. 212 ; ii. 184, 260 

Mme., ii. 73 
" Walking the Bridges," custom of, 

ii. 56 
War, declaration of, i. 244 ; ii. 287, 
288 

enthusiasm for, i. 251 

Office, the, ii. 201 

rumours of, i. 205 
Warner, Mr., i. 71 
Waters, Colonel, ii. 28 
Wei-hai-wei, fall of, ii. 58 
Wei-man, ii. 169 
Western China, journey to, ii. 77 

equipment for, ii. 79 
Whang Hal coast, the, ii. 171 
Whang Ju, ii. 109, 110, 111 
" White-headed Moimtain," i. 5 
Widows, il 86-89, 98 

remarriage of, ii. 89 
Wife, the duty of a, i. 138 
Wildfowl, i. 202 
WUkinson, Mr., i 26 
Witch doctors, i. 239 
Wladivostok, I 203, 260-261 ; ii. 
1, 2, 21, 26, 27, 29 

Chinese shops in, i. 268 

climate of, i 261 

Korean settlements near, ii 15 

population of, i. 258 

public buildings in, i. 269 

visit of the Tsar to, ii 21 
Wol-po, ii. 127 
Women, position of, i 43 ; ii. 148- 

154 
Won-chon, i 124 

Wong, my servant, i 69, 78, 103, 
124, 142, 144, 190, 226, 280 



Won Ju, i 100, 106 

Won-san, i. 5, 11, 12, 79, 122, 124, 

126, 140, 173, 183, 185, 189, 
196, 198-201, 206, 213 ; ii 29, 
134, 217 

population of, i 203 ; ii 306 

trade of, i 208 
Wyers, Mr., i 72, 74 
Wylie, Mr., murder of, i 246, 249 

Yalu river, the, i 4 

Yamen, a, i 95, 103, 116, 116, 126, 

189 ; ii. 62, 103, 147 
runners, i 60, 67, 96 ; ii 144, 

148 
Yang-bans, i 60, 83, 84, 86, 86, 96, 

113, 114, 128, 131, 146 ; U. 17, 

127, 148, 281, 288 
Yang-kun, i. 92 
Yang-wol, i 116 
Yangtze rapids, the, i 119 
Yantchihe, ii 6, 6, 7 

Ye Cha Yun, ii. 256, 266 

Yellow Sea, the, i 4, 26 

Yi family, dsemon of the, ii. 263 

Yi, General, i 242 

Yi Hak In, Mr., ii 78, 79, 90, 93, 

97, 101, 102, 104, 109, 113, 122, 

124, 129, 132, 138, 189, 142, 

167, 170 
Yi Kyong-jik, ii 66 
Ying-tzu, i 216 
Yo Ju, i 93, 94, 96, 97, 100 
Yong-Chhun, i 81, 82, 115, 117, 119 

rapid, i 117 
Yong-Wol, i 86 
Yon-yung Pa-da, ii. 171 
Yuan, Mr., i 42, 212 
Yu-chom Sa temple, i 168, 163 

164, 165, 167, 169 
big bell at, i 169 
Yul-sa, the monk, i 166 
Yung-hing, i 201 
Yung-won, ii 138 



THS END 



Printed by R« & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh. 



OCT i-f s! 191?